Verso Politico

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Sandblast

Taste the wind

Stale sirocco bleached

Dry bones cast their fortunes

Tarot of the desert

Dunes twist and distort

Crabs crawling the bed of a dried-out sea

No peace here

Even oases stand uneasy

We are incongruous

Like astronauts treading moon dust

Sacrifices made to be here

And for what?

This place is a mausoleum

Dust on a broom

Sand sweeping harshly

Interring

Disinterring

Eyes stay closed

This power drinks moisture

Scrabbles for even the rankest sweat

No atom is immune

Thursday, July 26, 2012

This Minor World

These are the things that don’t require proof,

Natural laws, immutable truths,

The laws that nature provides.

Like how the sun comes up every day,

And forces the moon to fade into gray,

And how all things are ordained.

The movement of the tides, the ebb and the flow,

The phases of the moon, seasons come and then go,

The cycles of growth and decay.

And in the comfort of this minor world,

The flags of our tiny lives unfurl,

To mark the passing of the day.

Small fools are we, but it’s our way.

It’s our way to be cynical, to have our conceits,

Worship painted heroes, with terracotta feet,

Aspire to be rich, aspire to have fame,

Then register in hotels, under someone else’s name.

It’s our way to become selfish, our way to become small,

To put all our wants before the needs of us all.

I wish I was better; had a generous heart.

But I keep growing smaller, no matter how big I start.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Written as a song, this came to me in 2 or 3 pieces. At that stage it didn't have a title.
I realised as it started to form that it was a reaction to a film I had seen - Danish writer/actor/director Rie Rasmussen's movie "Human Zoo". Themes of violent men corrupting innocent women during and after an ethnic war, combined with an interview I subsequently read where she talked about people winning the ovarian lottery..................
Well, my subconscious clearly had plenty to process, and I woke one morning with a tune and the first 2 verses cycling in my head. The rest came as I let it ferment. No line is substantially changed from the original as it came to me.

Em C

You in that cheap little A-line dress

Em D

Even cheaper perfume and your hair a mess

Em C G D D6

But still the most beautiful person in the room

There’s a light in you that comes from within

No taint of guilt or original sin

You must have sprung, straight from a perfect womb

You’re much too good for a man like me

There are much bigger oceans that have fish in their sea

I know you’ll leave me, I know you’ll leave me soon

All the men here would take you to the parking lot

Bend you over a car with a bonnet that’s hot

And give it to you baby, and howl like a dog at the moon

So put your foot to the floor and spin those wheels

Can you hear those dogs snapping at your heels?

There are no safe cages, here in the human zoo

Chorus:

D Em

There are no safe cages in this human zoo

D Em

No safe cages for me or you

D D6

I’ve seen those animals

C Em

I know you’ve seen them too

Love and lust are our crosses to bear

And when you weave those flowers in your hair

Have mercy baby, we’re all just animals too

Don’t want to sound like a romantic type

So let me just stand here and bask in your light

Yeah there’s light there, baby, and it’s spilling right out of you

Blessed are the meek, they'll inherit the earth

A piece of dirt that’s all they’re worth

You’re like gold to them baby; the animals can smell it on you

So it’s out through the window or out through the door

Put the pedal to the metal, you know the score

Get away from this, and try to find a path that’s true

Chorus

Yeah, there’s a light in you that comes from within

No taint of guilt or original sin

You must have sprung straight from a perfect womb

Tranchette

Like a tranche, only smaller

As my words must ever be my bond

I tender this tranchette

With promise of a larger piece

Invested as I am without regret

I pledge my words to you

My stocks are low but surely trending up

No dividends expected but that’s life

So drink the words that spill from this small cup

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Nowheresville Dirge

I wrote this in 1999 about the River Murray, and the failure of government to act.
Nothing much has changed in Nowheresville in the last decade or so, has it?

There’s no water left here in the river,

There’s no frogs or skinks or ducks or swans,

There’s no jobs in the towns outside the cities,

The economic miracle’s been and gone.

There’s no-one left out here in Nowheresville,

No horses left out in the one-horse-towns,

The banks have up & gone, like the frogs & ducks & swans,

The country’s dead but it just won’t lie down.

Like the fighter, who’s had just one too many fights,

Like the drinker, who’s stayed out just one too many nights,

Like the farmers and their kin, worn hard & frail & thin,

It gets so you’re afraid to go to bed at night.

Afraid of what you’ll wake to in the morning,

The dollar’s up & commodities are shot to hell,

And on top of that the drought has brought the smell of death & doubt,

And it’s better to let the stock rot where they fell.

We ain’t seen no Rural Reconstruction here,

We’ve just seen our kids desert the farms,

We ain’t ever seen no level playing field,

Our wounds might heal but we still bear the scars.

Reprise: Descant:

There’s no water left here in the river, It’s all gone,

There’s no frogs or skinks or ducks or swans, They’re all gone,

No jobs in the towns outside the cities, They’re all rationalised,

The economic miracle’s been and gone. Wave it goodbye.

Shibboleth

No apologies. Raised a Catholic and now an atheist. Still exorcising my own particular brand of demons......

Don’t drink the water

Don’t drink the wine

Like lambs to the slaughter

It’s gospel time

Every word’s been written down

Mis-in-ter-pret-ed

Every word’s been written down

In the book of the dead

Go read the Gospels

Read every verse

They’re not a blessing, friend

Every word’s a curse

Say the word the wrong way

You’ll be marked for death

Say the word the right way

That’s your shibboleth

Think your God’s the right one

A better God than mine

I’ll keep my water, friend

You can keep your wine

I’ve seen your name on billboards

Letters ten foot tall and higher

I know who you are and who you’re not

You’re not the New Messiah

The crowd has fallen at your feet

Waiting to be healed

Pay your money, take your chances

All will be revealed

Don’t drink the water

Don’t drink the wine

Like lambs to the slaughter

It’s gospel time

The Further I Fall

A rumination on being male, and my gender's propensity to fuck up. And it goes pretty well cycling around G, C and D if you're musically inclined.

Hey what can I say, but that life has a way

Of setting you back on your haunches.

All the things that you do, they come back to haunt you,

The womanising and the drink and long lunches.

If its Karma or Fate, you can’t shut the gate.

Things happen and the horse it has bolted.

You’re searching for gold, but the trail has gone cold.

You bought the mine and now you find it’s been salted.

Somewhere someone’s laughed as they gave you the shaft.

Life is full of coyotes and vultures.

You know in your mind that you have to make time

To move on and explore other cultures.

To whit, there’s a place that I’ve seen that is mildly obscene.

Where they’ll dance on your lap for a twenty.

I should know I’ve been there - met a girl with red hair.

I gave her fifty and she gave me, well, plenty.

I can’t help it, I’m male, so I’m set up to fail.

I’m so shallow and so easily led.

I want a girl with a brain who’s not hard to maintain,

It would help if she’s real good in bed.

But the further I fall, the more I feel small.

Small like the part of an atom.

Like an electron spins round, searching for ground.

A dervish and a loon and a madman.

But it’s real hard to know what to keep and let go.

That’s the trick about making decisions.

Pick right and it’s luck, you pick left and you’re stuck

The trick is doing it all with precision.

Yeah the further I fall, the more I feel small.

Just a speck in a massive dark system.

Spinning at speed around a black hole of need.

I search for answers but I fear I have missed them.

Spinning at speed ‘round a black hole of need.

I search for answers but I fear I have missed them.