Topic Tags:
0 Comments

Barracking for Obama

Derek Fenton

Mar 02 2009

1 mins

It feels like it did all those years ago:

close your eyes and picture the quiff and smile.

Promise of Camelot, no hint of guile,

until that day in November, a blow

to baby boomers’ hopes for the future.

Now barrack for Obama, a new dawn,

a surgeon for the brave new world is born

who fixes gaping wounds with a suture.

 Country like a patient anaesthetised:

a trusting smile on a slumbering face

surrendering itself to healing hands;

but what lurks there, on that table disguised,

waiting to ride on a needle stick trace?

A virus we hope Obama withstands.

Comments

Join the Conversation

Already a member?

What to read next

  • Letters: Authentic Art and the Disgrace of Wilgie Mia

    Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.

    Aug 29 2024

    6 mins

  • Aboriginal Culture is Young, Not Ancient

    To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case

    Aug 20 2024

    23 mins

  • Pennies for the Shark

    A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten

    Aug 16 2024

    2 mins