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2018 Best New Talent - Short and Sweet Festival Sydney
2014 Pushcart Prize nominee. (more)


Their cause is just... or not

St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre 1572 (Artwork by Francois Dubois)

The people respond with outrage

Yes, the people respond with their outrage
As is expected
After such an horrific event

In the days to come
The threads are unwound
The truth seeps out
The self-serving agendas
The epitome of the inner demands
Blanketing all
Except those who can see
Who are reviled
Including me
And maybe you
And whether their cause is just or not
Is beside the point
Because this event
has its own truth
and must be assessed as such…

As it is
With every other situation…
And so they believe their own intelligence
                 War of words -
And serve their master
Their objective
To a degree
Whereupon they cage themselves
Yet will defend to the end.

This is impossible to battle.

Arguments arise
They inevitably turn personal
Interests become a struggle for the self
In which individuals will fight to the death…
How can that be toppled?
Reasoned with?

It cannot.

A myriad of shifting weather-scheme emotions
Until someone suffers
And whether they deserved it or not
Doesn’t matter either
As there is no justice in the short term
Only happenstance

Where you and I live.

So cross yourself
Pay homage
Or whatever it is you do
Say your bit if you must
But you will not alter what has already been
And before you dig in
To defend your opinion
Take a moment to listen to yourself
From afar.

What will it achieve
In the end?
And if you get your way
As you might
Will you ultimately regret it?

As when all is said and perhaps not done
It was about the event…
And not you.


  1. This is amazing and brilliant such a great piece. So full of emotion and truth. I absolutely love it thank you for sharing it. Yes we should all take time to hear ourselves from afar and importantly think about the event rather than using it to drive our own agenda.

  2. Interesting poem, and if I get it, I endorse its point. It's part of the reason I am always trying to find out about the motivations of the people or person who were involved in the act, before I respond. Initial media reports rarely set the scene. It's like only reading the last chapter of a novel and then reviewing it. Social media is much worse in the rush to get into first. But I still have agendas to push. "It was about the event, not you."

  3. Really a nice piece of writing Anthony. Unfortunately, it seems like most people are more narcissistic than introspective. They can't listen to themselves from afar. They can't...

