Poetry and verse Fiction

POEM: Football folly

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Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockcliff (image via YouTube)

*This article is the monthly winner of the IA Writing Competition Most Enthralling Fiction Work category.

 

FOOTBALL FOLLY
 

your words will not seduce us

however hard you try

Tassie's travelled down this road before

and we've learned that words belie

the truth behind those statements

designed to soothe and satisfy

and that claim all kinds of benefits

like economic boons that just defy

all reason, common sense, and facts –

it makes us roll our eyes and sigh

 

those attributes you say will flow

from this AFL team deal

and a brand new shiny stadium

that you insist is so ideal

because unless there is a stadium

there'll also be no team

AFL boss Gil has spoken, and

brooks no argument it seems

 

so this large and ugly stadium

for which you've sold Tasmania's soul

will have a billion dollar price tag

once costs spin beyond control

(which they will, that’s just a given

no matter how much you cajole)

but you’ve dismissed public opinion

in the one and lonely poll

(the result not one you wished for

but instead a clear own goal!)

yet you still support this eyesore

that's been dubbed a toilet bowl

 

so like premiers before him, Rockliff insists we have a fight

and the state is now divided because he’s chosen to incite

the anger of the people – but the culprit’s still the same

be it pulp mills, dams or forests

the ‘greenies’ always are to blame

 

never mind the hospitals that are struggling to cope

or the doctors and the nurses who’ve all abandoned hope

that your government will listen, appreciate the crisis that is health

you say the stadium’s more important

because it will help increase our wealth

 

and never mind the homeless, Rocky

all those people sleeping rough

you think the stadium's more important

than Tasmanians doing it tough

 

Anne Layton-Bennett is a writer based in Tasmania. This article is the monthly winner of the IA Writing Competition Most Enthralling Fiction Work category. 

*Full IA Writing Competition details and conditions of entry HERE.

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