The Millionaires who’ve made their stash

in bonds, in futures, or in cash,

in business, property or land

by process sometimes underhand,

investments which are so substantial

and profits from their deeds financial

that lead to hiding large amounts

concealed in off-shore bank accounts.

When summoned to appear before

a judge for deals outside the law,

the rich man hires a top QC

who’s speciality is property.

It’s “Case Dismissed”, and so he walks

free from the court, for money talks.

 

© Mary Kille

 

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Would you give a lot of money to charity?

Would you buy a nice new house and car?

Would you buy all your friends a round at the bar?

Would you travel overseas to exotic destinations?

Would you give some money to your poor relations?

Would you buy lots of smart clothes to look the part?

Would you buy shares?

Would you buy a racehorse and watch it run?

Would you buy lots of CDs and DVDs?

Would you buy a giant TV?

Would you buy a state-of-the-art computer

                that can do about anything?

Would you buy someone a diamond ring?

 

© Cathy Weaver

 

 

 

The Foxes Are Coming

 

For ten years now they’ve hunted been,

But not one fox has e’er been seen.

The special task force’s all gone home

And foxes now are free to roam

Across Tasmania’s holiday isles.

No wonder there’re so many smiles

As foxes from around the states

All rush to book their travel dates.

                                                To go by sea’s a nice idea,

For some of flying have a fear.

But soon the Spirit’s are all sold out

For weeks ahead, without a doubt.

                                                To go by air they now must try,

With Rex or Qantaslink they’ll fly.

And then they’ll have to rent a car

For without wheels, they’ll not get far.

Avis and Hertz are run off their feet

With all these guests they have to meet.

Once on the road, they tour the land

And motels now are in demand.

But many families are resigned

That they no empty beds will find.

                                                The cafés too are doing well

With all the food and drink they sell,

And in the restaurants one can see

Guests eating meals 1080 free.

Attractions all from east to west

With record numbers now are blest.

The hordes of tourists thus unloosed

Have given the state a welcome boost.

                                                And what has all this fox hunt cost?

What funding to the state was lost?

What other needs have not been met

For lack of cash so hard to get?

Some fifty million has been spent -

To find the foxes, the intent.

                                                The sceptics now, they all are glad

To spend more money would be mad.

But wildlife lovers have concern

The vulpine threat could soon return.

 

© John D. Duncan June 2013

 

Hunting for Spiders

 

We went hunting in the bush for spiders
and found some beauties too,
deep red or green and even yellow,

some white but none were blue.

Then donkeys were our target,
we found lots of them as well,

both short and tall, coloured the same,

but none were nice to smell.

There were bunnies, hares
and also ducks but snails didn’t show.

That’s how it is with native orchids
and their funny names, you know!

 

©   Pete. Stratford.   5..9.12

 

 

 

Cream Cake

 

You brought me some cream

and said that it was for a cake.

I said that you couldn’t have any cream

in a cake, for cream is high with caustic

cholesterol and it will make you fat.

 

The next day you asked,

what did you do

with the cream for my cake?

I said, I couldn't put the cream

in the cake for it would raise your

cholesterol and make you fat.

 

But instead I put it in the soup

to make cream-of-chicken.

 

© Judy Brumby-Lake

 

 

We live in a false democracy. We think we’re free to choose who we pay and when we pay, and how much!

 

Not a bit of it.

 

Let’s take Aurora as an example. Yes, I know, bash the big corporations – they’ve got very broad shoulders and a seemingly bottomless pit of funds.

 

We get our account – pay by or else…

 

Alright, here’s what we’ll do in the future, once we’ve fixed the latest account – we’ll exercise freedom of choice!

 

We won’t use any heating whatsoever or any hot water, for that matter! No lighting, no power. No nothing. Candles in the black rugged up in four doonas.

 

But, hey, wait a minute, that won’t work – well, in part, it might. Having made this momentous decision to economise, we find, come the next quarterly statement, we still have a bill to pay, just for the privilege of staying connected.

 

Residential light and power – fixed charges calculated at two quite different dollar rates. Hot water supply systems – fixed charges calculated at two different rates.

 

That’s right!  Fixed charges – no escape!

 

Sorry you were in the dark on this one, so to speak.

 

We’ve got you every which way, every switch way! That’s what power corporations are for, aren’t they?

 

 

 Naked Tree

 

 

Limbs dance to the

echo of shell burst,

Uncoordinated,

Collateral damage,

Red as the dying sun,

Ever falling in sound shock,

Separate in crash to earth

and to the blood-grime,

Arms that cannot embrace,

Legs that cannot walk,

They belong to someone else

in the shrieking cacophony

of explosion,

Headless upon naked tree.

 

 

© Michael Garrad August 2013

 

 

 

Life From The Inside

 

When I look in a mirror,

What do I see?

 

I see a person,

But do I see me?

When I turn away what do I see?

I see everything!

But I don’t see me…

From the outside my eyes look small,

But, from the inside,

They are the universe,

They are me!

                               

© L.J. Barnes   3.9.13

 

 

 We are a month into spring in Tasmania but it’s cold and it rains every day. My almond tree has finished blossoming and the little birds had a feast. The pear and apple trees haven’t dared, as yet, to show their need to copulate, but the apricot tree is happy to expose itself to the bees. I have sown flowers in my vegetable patch because somehow, a potoroo gets through the fence and eats them all up. I have planted some climbing beans but they still lie naked and exposed, waiting for the sun to tease them out to dare their roots to search into the well-fertilized soil. This year we saved all our greens into a compost bin. It should work. In the little green house only a cherry tomato has survived the winter and it is being attacked by little flies and spiders although I sprinkle it with tomato dust regularly, don’t wet the leaves and let it enjoy itself in lots of potash and other gourmet foods. My little orange tree is fifteen years old and has never done much good because it’s too cold here. This year I’ve covered it, enveloped it like a balloon in a plastic drop sheet and kept its feet warm also. Next, we’ll give it special food from the garden centre. I’ve re-published How To Write as Basic Creative Writing and have put it on Ebay.

 

 

 

Sonnet

 

The darkness comes, sly, slowly on its toes

And yet it crushes all that seeks the light.

You stare it down with hatred, then you froze,

But you may try again to feel for light.

You seek it in a flame that consummates

Your soul where meditation brings some calm;

You find it in a love that contemplates;

You seek it in the lines that cross your palm

But always, fear lurks there within the dark

Where no one can control their destiny.

You are afraid to move; you lose your spark

To stop to breathe for all eternity.

                You are a being deep within your brain

                And live your life’s illusions all the same.

 

© Joe Lake

 

Fear Of Darkness   A serial novel by Joe Lake.

(So far: Julie meets Susan, who is from five hundred years in the future. She gives Julie a ring to travel in different parallel universes. Julie turns the ring and journeys through space and time with John, her husband. Susan appears later as a hologram and threatens them. Julie refuses to listen when the van begins to shake violently.

 

 

                “How did we get into this mess? I haven’t done anything, have I?” says John.

                Julie shakes her head. Her eyes are glazed with fear as she stares out the window. “The van’s spinning.” She rushes over to John and holds onto him as the Winnebago is buffeted as if it had been hit by a tornado.

                “Throw the ring out the window,” whispers John into her ear.

                “It won’t come off. We tried before.” Julie takes hold of the ring and tries to twist and move it. “It won’t,” she says. Suddenly the violence outside the van stops.

                “We’re off again. If this weren’t so silly, I’d be enjoying it. We’re flying, like an aeroplane,” says John.

                “More like a space ship,” Julie says.
                They both sit down at the kitchen table, opposite each other. Outside the evening has changed to night.

                “Let’s try to start the engine,” says John.

                “We’ve tried it before, it’s dead,” says Julie.

                “Then yell for Susan. She’s the only one who can stop this insanity.”

                Julie begins to yell into the emptiness of the campervan, “Susan, Susan!” Each time she calls Susan’s name she increases the volume. “Susan!”

                “I’ll get a file, there’s one under the bench we sit on. We can file the ring off and then we won’t be flying around space anymore and this will also get rid of Susan’s hologram that appears at crazy intervals.”

                “All right, let’s do it,” Julie says.

                John gets up, lifts the lid off the bench he was sitting on and finds a small file almost immediately.

                Julie puts her left hand with the ring onto the kitchen table and John begins to file away when the bust of Susan’s hologram appears right between them on the kitchen table. John keeps on filing at the ring.

                “Stop it,” says the otherworldly voice of Susan.

 

(To be continued next month)

 

 

 On Sunday 27 October from 2-4 pm at the Burnie Regional Art Gallery, for Burnie Shines, we are presenting our yearly concert with poetry, the former to be presented by the BRAG Boys (Burnie Regional Art Gallery Boys) who will entertain us with music and song. At 3pm, Joe Lake will launch our

 

Tasmanian Europa Poets Anthology 2013 which includes

 

Michael Garrad, Dr  Mary Kille, Dr  Vi Woodhouse, Judy Brumby-Lake, Joe Lake,

Pete Stratford, Cathy Weaver, Yvonne Matheson and  Charlie Trafford.

 

The poets reading their poems on this afternoon are:

Dr Mary Kille, Dr Vi Woodhouse, Pete Stratford, Yvonne Matheson, Lauren Hay, Cathy Weaver,

Joe Lake, Judy Brumby-Lake, June Maureen Hitchcock, Loretta Gaul.