Expediency

Then call it ‘political expediency’ mate
the kind of drivel sprayed when there’s
a chance of making the late news seem
something it ain’t – Tony Abbott’s best
phrase this week had a self-professed
claim to integrity painted in pink over it,
like florescent ‘see me’ vests we have
to wear on worksites these days

But in Tony’s case even a snide smirk
failed relevance tests when it came to
clearing up just how an unconfirmed
allegation became a chance to ignite
parliamentary controversy and qualify
as HIS demonstration of real integrity
© 26 August 2011, I. D. Carswell

Defending Doubt

I don’t cop hegemonies sweet if you
know what I mean – like I’m more
at ease with non-familial and fatally
unexplained consequences

That factions controlling a casting
vote’s majority embrace me also
fascinates me – if you don’t know
who I am then why do you bother?

Possibly for the same reason I wade
knee-deep in rhetoric obeying a much
simpler rule of thumb – and yes, the
reference is supposed to be obscure

You will not sway me though kill me
you may; it won’t change a whit – I
don’t defend your doubt, if anything
my family made me this way
© 4 May 2011, I. D. Carswell

Same Brush

Tony Abbott (Mr Duplicity) excites a case where
lack of ‘the quality of possessing and steadfastly
adhering to high moral principles or professional
standards’, i.e., ‘integrity’ for the uninitiated,
jeopardises parliamentarians’ erstwhile claims

Yet he says he’s the newborn messiah we need;
a lad bred to lead us out of the wilderness and on
into a land he promises to be better than the one
we’ve languished in – I’m your man, don’t you
worry about that pernickety, esoteric stuff

It strikes me as a rare claim – though I’ll not wait
for enlightenment; wry ideas of integrity ablaze in
modern day parliamentarians went up in flames
with his incendiary accusation, he’s as tarred with
the same brush as those he seeks to crucify
© 24 August 2011, I. D. Carswell