May 2022 – The Hobart Chinaman

Reflection on Mass Killings – USA v AU

For Weekend Writing Prompt #261- Outcry

There’ll be an outcry always is,

Candlelight vigils, community jizz.

No-one really feels disgrace,

Unless it comes right in ya face.

Anguished outcry mass killings raise,

USA can’t turn the page,

Unlike Port Arthur *near Hobart town,

Where killings are permanently down.

Second Amendment, right to bear arms,

Doesn’t keep the populace calm.

Change might come, won’t be rapid,

Simply put, “its the guns, stupid”

copywrite – thehobartchinaman

*. For reference of non Australian readers here’s some background ex Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia)

Wiki notes the response of Australian Government,

“Following the spree, the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, led the development of strict gun control laws within Australia and formulated the National Firearms Agreement, restricting the private ownership of semi-automatic rifles, semi-automatic shotguns and pump-action shotguns as well as introducing uniform firearms licensing. It was implemented with bipartisan support by the Commonwealth, states and territories. The massacre happened just six weeks after the Dunblane massacre, in Scotland, which claimed 18 lives, with UK Prime Minister John Major reaching out to his counterpart over the shared tragedies; the United Kingdom passed its own changes to gun laws in 1997.“

Vale Scomo. New Names For All!

Ach! scomo’s gone, madmen bereft

Vanquished by resurgent left.

New faces stride cross media screens

A high proportion, urban greens.

For marketers and image makers

Their task to craft for four new faces.

Catchy nick names for this bunch

ideas conceived at boozy lunch.

Albo and Wong, Chalmers and Dutton,

Caressing names for sensitive button.

No jarring echoes from the past,

Tags need to help, next three years pass.

Wong and Dutton, Albo and Chalmers,

Need tags to make the punters calmer.

No deficits to make eyes water,

Inflecting debt on sons and daughters.

‘

Dutton and Albo, Chalmers and Wong,

Tags needed to avoid a pong

of past mistakes in foreign affairs,

with chynna and the russian bear.

Dutton, Chalmers, Wong and Albo,

need tags to show support for ab*s.

the statement made near Alice Springs,

need monikers to make electorate sing.

Editor’s note : thehobartchinaman realises that obtuse references to domestic aussie politics litter this piece. Reader/s : Clarification can be sought through the comments section.

Retro pics of these guys have been used to increase scope of Admen’s nickname choices.

a single * has been used, a nod to the pc times we live in.

Vietnam to Ukraine (the)

Fuck the war in the Ukraine,

Eats away my tiny brain,

Distorting my reality,

I’m out of body, don’t feel like me.

Tight images of Ukraine babushkas,

Preparing meals on kero cookers.

Transfixed by videos that I watch,

Can barely rise to ease my crotch.

Curated images, photos create

Public sympathy, to satiate.

It’s hard to tear away my face

As guided missiles leave smoky trace.

So gracefully, demonic precision,

AI makes final fatal decision.

The tank is blasted to kingdom come,

Soldiers have nowhere to run.

A satisfying plume of smoke,

Where once were men, who died and choked,

Incinerated in dark armoured tank,

Sanitary conditions were quite rank.

It is the videos which bring a sting,

Is immortality really a thing?

Russian hallux *with name tag,

Get shipped back home in body bag.

I grieve for dead, both sides of war,

Vietnam, Afghanistan, it’s just one more,

When just nineteen I penned these words

Five decades on, don’t seem absurd.

My pen my only weapon

I could be drafted soon

I’ll be forced step in

Man just walked on the moon.

Go there and fight them

Aus government says.

Put morals to one side, do not condemn

Fight and kill them, don’t analyze

My marble luckily stays in the barrel

I am relieved, not so for others,

They get to kill in this deathly raffle,

Slant eyes and gooks, these are my brothers.

*= big toe!

Melissa’s ‘Kaddish’

thehobartchinaman has lain down his quill for a tick, but occasionally the urge strikes. Australian readers will enjoy the context of this Aussie podcasts, which vaults Oz onto the world stage of Ponzi schemes.

Non Australian readers will be left in no doubt, that in the panoply of crooks, Australia is now truly punching above its weight.

https://www.smh.com.au/podcast/liar-liar-melissa-caddick-missing-millions

Ode? to Melissa Caddick

Resting from poetic stress

I listen to podcasts

True crime and families in distress

And troubles from the past.

Characters mostly north American,

Australian’s barely feature.

But Melissa hatched a cunning plan,

A most intriguing creature.

It’s not my style to recommend

But this one ‘s just top shelf!

Her clothing and outrageous spend

All built on stolen wealth.

So listen in, amuse yourself,

It is a tale of greed.

Deception gains ill-gotten wealth,

Severed below the knee.

please do not adjust your focus,
the remains of Melissa’s foot have been pixelated
to avoid any distress to the faint of heart

Melissa’s passed, or so it seems

Family and victims grieving

In twenty two their super* schemes.

Destroyed by all her thieving.

Will there be peace in the Ukraine **

Its not an easy prospect.

Melissa’s scam invades my brain,

In spite of world wide conflict.

*super = superannuation, a quaint aussie custom forcing employees to save for their retirement.

** archaic form of Ukraine country name, which I earnt in school.

Editor’s note : comments especially from non Australian readers are encouraged!

In this kaddish, thehobartchinaman has attempted to give praise and thanks to the presumed dead Melissa, for the hours of enjoyment this podcast has given.

Reflections on Tasman Bridge Disaster 1975

Lake Illawarra down below,

Captured in an indigo glow.

The Tasman Bridge soars overhead

A monument to the dozen dead,

Seven sailors entombed, down below,

Submerged in icy Derwent flow.

Five others died, when bridge went down,

Struggling, but, eventually drowned.

When balanced in predicament,

Were my life’s days so wisely spent?

When taken to the edge I wonder

How many moments have I squandered?

copywrite thehobartchinaman

Editors Note, 3D imaging in 2022 has revealed the MV Illawarra, located below the Tasman Bridge on the Derwent River Hobart. In 1975 the vessel collided with the Bridge, drowning seven sailors and five motorists who plunged into the water when several bridge spans collapsed.