Hi Mick, this is angry, and with good reason - but does the polemic
overwhelm the poetry?

The content of political work tends to be very directive in nature, and so
must always run the 'tell rather than show' risk. I think in order to
deflect the accusation of being 'chopped up prose' the execution of the
poem must therefore display some special quality of language that
'elevates' the work from the commonplace.

In oral delivery timing and intonation etc can do this work, but with a
text presentation I think it's a tougher nut to crack.

It's a problem, because if such a piece isn't really commanding it can come
across as tokenism.

Being a coward I solve this problem by avoiding polemics!

Best wishes, John


----- Original Message -----
From: "kmo" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 01 September 2001 11:11
Subject: new sub - Nauru


If I thought poetry changed anything I'd sent this to the Australian
government - but it doesn't.
Mick

Nauru

A tiny speck of land
in the vast pacific ocean
no industry
no agriculture
it could be paradise
but it's not

there used to be phosphates
until the multinationals came
and left
taking the top four feet of everywhere
with them

leaving a bizarre landscape
of rocks stripped naked
like embarrassed outcasts
on a prison island

pacific rain storms
washed away
what soil was left
and now the place is just a maze
of twisting empty trenches

inhabitants who haven't
already left
are queuing up to do so
their villages
and ages old island culture
long destroyed

a perfect place to send
three hundred and fifty
men women and children
trying to escape
persecution
and intolerance