and who was in charge at the siege of Sydney Street?
and wasn't polite about Gandhi?
- that man.
Max (brought up socialist in NZ)
On 25/04/2012, at 4:14 PM, Patrick McManus wrote:
> And Didn't Churchill order troops to fire on strikers in the UK before
> that?? My memory is dodgy:)
> P
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Kenneth Wolman
> Sent: 24 April 2012 23:44
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: snap: anzac day 2012
>
> Muted, all the same painful. I had to explore a bit online to find out what
> Anzac meant and signified. I knew it had something to do with Gallipoli, but
> not much more. All I knew from years back was that the Australian and New
> Zealand troops were trapped against cliffsides while the Turkish troops
> rained down firepower at them.
>
> This was supposed to be Churchill's bright idea, I gather. I'm amazed he had
> a career after that.
>
> I think I shall have to read more about this.
>
> Ken
>
> On Apr 24, 2012, at 6:07 PM, Max Richards wrote:
>
>> Anzac Day 2012
>>
>> Another chance missed
>> of attending Dawn Parade.
>>
>> This time, instead
>> of sleeping in, I wake
>>
>> early to rain, bow my head
>> to its sound, not the Last Post.
>>
>> My nephew's class, he tells me,
>> have been learning about
>>
>> soldiering and history.
>> Did I know why the brim
>>
>> turns up on the Diggers'
>> felt hat? Because when
>>
>> they lifted their rifles
>> to their shoulders, biff
>>
>> and the hats would fly off.
>> Yes, I say, and yet
>>
>> when I was eighteen
>> I was a foot-soldier
>>
>> in the New Zealand Army,
>> and our felt hats had brims
>>
>> not turned up, lemon-squeezers
>> everyone called them -
>>
>> we drilled, we sloped arms,
>> no-one's hat went flying.
>>
>> No, in my day there weren't
>> wars to be sent to. Lucky!
>>
>> I offer to mimic the Last Post
>> (in a Chinese restaurant
>>
>> it's my portable aural
>> Shrine of Remembrance)
>>
>> but he lets me off.
>> Two lucky generations,
>>
>> mine and his, 'sacrifice'
>> mere lip-service.
>>
>> Max Richards
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