This Poem was Submitted By: Mark Andrew Hislop On Date: 2006-01-26 07:01:38 . . . Click Here To Mail this Poem to a Friend!

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Australia Day Revised To Comply With New ...

Australia Day Revised To Comply With New Regulations On the Day after the Day on which it Receives the Royal Assent,  Australian Citizens Will sacrifice a Lamb on the Great Barbeque  To Celebrate their Protection by a Newly imported American Law.  This is good News. The Basque, the Iraqi and even the Kurd  should Welcome the best Practice this Represents. World Class  says our Attorney General, after He carefully Considered the Plans  other Likeminded Nations have in Their Legislative Pipelines.  Do not Fear the Phonetaps, for they protect the Many from the Few  Who are Jealous of our Way of Life, who regard our Liberty  As a Threat, our Political Hegemony as an Evil, and our Smart  Bombs as Something Sinister. This is a Lie: We are Benevolent.  The Only thing to Fear Is/Are the Fearmongers Themselves.  When you hear the Siren, Assemble in an Orderly Fashion in Your  Own Backyard. Ignite the Flame. Place the Sacrifice on the Grill.  When you Smell Burning Flesh, the World is Ready for Consumption.
Copyright © January 2006 Mark Andrew Hislop

Additional Notes:
Yes, it was Australia Day today. No, I don't celebrate it. Too much blood on Australian hands, and no apology for it.

This Poem was Critiqued By: Thomas H. Smihula On Date: 2006-02-07 07:25:42
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 9.60526
This is poetry at its finest for you take a point of view and express it well in thought and presentation. Although some will differ from your take it is your take that is important in this presentation. I like how you place the sacrifice on the grill giving it more depth. Political viewpoints have always been a part of poetry. Thanks for sharing yours.

This Poem was Critiqued By: James C. Horak On Date: 2006-02-06 18:36:45
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 9.96552
Mark, you employ a very clever mechanism here, just satirical enough to approach the topic of encroaching government with enough craft to dispel the prepared arguments. Quite often, that is the only way one has to combat media apologists and hirelings for government policy promotion. Did I say media? The parallel with the sacrifice of burnt offering is carried to a very adroit conclusion with the last line, "When you Smell Burning Flesh, the World is Ready for Consumption." You interesting way of using capitals for words used in sound byte phrases employed in public image making is consistant with the use of headlines to imprint emphasis. Your reader is well on the road to viewing his media bombardment with a more jaundiced eye. Well he should. You have portrayed well how slogan making and fear mongering are the new orders-of-the-day, substituted for an holiday permutated into something else. Something sinister. Henry Fielding would be proud. Significant and successful. JCH
This Poem was Critiqued By: Mark Steven Scheffer On Date: 2006-02-02 15:41:24
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 10.00000
I've saved this one until now. And now it ain't saved. te he Your diction was exquisite. That has something to do with flow. I think. If not, no matter. It was superb. The 3,345,678th superb poem i've read this month. i wish there were a billion to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This Poem was Critiqued By: Thomas Edward Wright On Date: 2006-01-29 17:58:57
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 9.68750
My dogs celebrated your Holy Day of Obligation with a bone. As we creep from beneath the solsticial shoulderblade, and await the Super Bowl (no. 40 = XL), we order larger plasma screens, softer loungers, and martini mix, all on-line, all delivered Fed Ex or UPS. We consume the earth by the truckload. And Google is our favorite pasttime. iPad: teen girls learn how to share the bleeding. Amerigo? Ameriwent.
This Poem was Critiqued By: arnie s WACHMAN On Date: 2006-01-28 17:25:32
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 8.86667
Not a true poem but a story in poetic fashion eh? In Canada we celebrate Canada Day July 1st by alughtering the last seals off the coast of Newfoundland that have escaped the yearly rout. No more seals for high fashioned ladies, and no more igloos for the poor indigionus peoples of the North. So, your burning flesh is Kosher though...
This Poem was Critiqued By: Sean Donaghy On Date: 2006-01-27 01:11:47
Critiquer Rating During Critique: 1.00000
MAH - Gripping poetry! To me it seems a reflective glass facing this country. America in a mirror, if you will. Actually, I do believe the two countries are truly mirror images of each other. One, Australia, populated (after the Aborigines) by Irish criminals (as so identified by the Empire), the other (USA) populated (after the Native Peoples) by (in a large part) Irish immigrants escaping the poverty of their homeland. Seems the Brits created twins in two hemispheres. And..from the text of your poem - the similarity still exists. Nicely done Sean
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