Creative Writing - Sample Poems

Gone Wonderland

Boats sail into the harbour with masts at half-mast.

Black suits megaphone, Stop crying, it’s not every day

there’s an execution of power. Someone shouts, I have a dream

and someone shouts louder, Over my dead body!

Ghost towns everywhere, but the economy booms

so loud we put fingers shaped like guns in our ears.

(Statistics bear this out and cover up the rest)

A sensible range of opinion is offered the opportunity

to strut the catwalk, but keeps walking past windows

wet with a soapy star’s tears. The Opera House joins

the boats on the harbour, floats, looks at its watch:

it’s going to be long day’s sailing and an even longer

sell-off. The black suits change to plain clothes,

set their weapons to seek the distraught.

*first published in The Age, 2006