As we headed for bed, home form a social evening, I wailed that I had to get a sonnet written but the well was dry. The Art Student, never one to let someone just moan, told me to get in touch with my inner rage about recent news headlines. So I came up with this in fairly short order:
Sonnet 12: Australia, 27 November 2013
When they were in opposition
they said no, no, no, no. No
one expects the Inquisition,
Spanish or otherwise, and so
we didn’t dream that once empowered
they’d really drag us back to Howard
and beyond, ditch Gonski, try
to bluff and bully SBY,
sack scientists, be kind to rorters,
snub climate talks, give boats to thugs,
tweet racist tweets, treat us like mugs.
As trusting lambs are led to slaughters
we chose them. They appal, amaze
the world in barely eighty days.
Me fail? I fly! 
Oh yes…
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In lines so brief you encapsulate perfectly what is almost too horrible to fully grasp! But thank you for laying it out – just so that one can properly know how awful – and not feel alone in the comprehension.
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Haha, my feelings exactly – worse than I could have ever imagined, especially Christopher Pyne.
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Bravo! Encore! Really, it’s depressing here in the US to see, not just the return of Howard era business as usual,but the incessant repetition of the worst of American business as usual–govt shutdown threats, wiretapping (at least nominally) friendly heads of state, and god knows what next. Hey, maybe you could turn things around and elect a black head of state?
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And I didn’t even mention support for the occupation of the West Bank, withdrawal of significant funding from the Royal Commission into institutional responses to child abuse, defunding Indigenous-specific services … And Will, I shudder to think who our next appointed head of state will be – the current one has spoken out in support of same-sex marriage and been criticised for stepping outside of what she’s allowed to say.
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And they have ‘defunded’ a host of small but vital organisations associated with health and social welfare, and don’t forget Ausaid.
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