Serious, what’s that?
Inflexible
Won’t change your mind
You have absolute knowledge
You care about something
You are going to react
What
What is serious?
To me
It’s a nothing word
You can never be serious
Surely
Responsible would be better

A hard day Rosa
Any seat was your due
But blacks don’t sit
When whites rule
Ignorantly
Weary were you not
And I wonder what from
The racism
Or the long day
You held firm that day
You gorgeous girl
Segregation
And Jim Crow laws
You showed a “quiet strength”
And with
Martin Luther
A pair of black Aces was played

You asked me why I write
Why bother to capture the moment
Of that sudden thought or idea
That may only be important to me
That sudden preoccupation of something in my head
To be translated
From mind to paper
To be made sense of
So I write
Now others can make sense of it
Critique it or ridicule
It matters not
For what if Shakespeare wrote nought?
So I write

Christ! Ned the more I think
The madder I get
I think you committed suicide
Australia’s first Martyr
You knew of the rope
If the bullets missed
A subliminal message to the Governor
The chief of Constables
That you would never conform
Yet you were their intellectual equal
Politically
You could have been a Lalor old son
Your concerns or lack thereof
Of the value of a life
Were poor it seems
You were the only Kelly to lose his life
In your own war
Why Ned?
Where were the soldiers
Who was the enemy?
Ned they didn’t exist
Ya’ Ma lived
She needed only you
Not a war
She needed a Son
All ya’ brothers and sisters lived
Except Dan
A victim of his own hand
So what were you thinking?
Was it personal Ned?
Was it Kennedy?
You wanted to get at those with rank
Was it your sister’s amorous connection?
To a certain Constable,
Would he expose himself?
To a killers lair Ned
Doubtful
Not without love for your sister
It was a poor decision Ned
To kill
And most of us ask
Of the man’s ability behind your mask
Wasted

My chief mechanic constantly crows
His brother the MD surely knows
They have nomenclature of similar prose
A younger brother and a love that shows
Some love just grows and grows
For the Norris Boys will never be foes
No chance they could come to blows
A love of each other a surname chose
Two good men in different clothes
One looks after buses parked in rows
Another helps managers avoid their lows
Eclectic brothers and boy it shows
One barracks for the Tiger’s, football Pro’s
The others a Magpie with a face that glows

Ned!
Serious
Did you think you could beat them all?
For god’s sake
Your gang was a rabble
Blaggards
Alone
You had a case my friend
A good case
A real cause
Persecution is a crime
You were a victim
Long before you were a criminal
And the lawyers were queuing up Ned
Waiting your letter
Your plea for help
You just had to tough it out
With no guns
And your chosen brief would reach fame
In an instant
Ya’ ma was in gaol for fuck sake
Your story was newsworthy
She wanted you to live
A good life
A farmer’s life
She just wanted you to come in
Talk to you
Sure you were a rogue
But lovable
Murderers lose Ned
You can not kill fellow man
And let your Ma’ down like that
How sad

A Thorn in the Side
Yes, a Thorn in the team
How strange is it not?
That Thorn like behaviour
Should make you so welcome
Required
An outsider now in
With those who resist pointed things
As Thorn’s can be
You have entered the realm my boy
In a quite wonderful way
With stewardship of a pampered lot
No doubt you will have your say

followed you
Your teachings
All of my life
Your mind
Your intelligence blew me
According to the book
The preachers
I will love you
Forever
You made sense
For so long
After my school years
To follow you was ordered
Or hell would beckon
In my life
You control all men
Irrespective
But it made me ask
Questions
Query things
I read of your exploits
And Judas
Who was he?
Pontias Pilot
Who was he?
God
Was he not your father?
Why did he not step in?
The book told me of your power
All encompassing
Why
Did you go to the cross?
What happened to your power?
And where was Daddy
Popularity was with you
Was it not
So I ask you
Why was the most popular person?
Of your time
Nailed to a cross

It’s a modern world with changes galore
OH&S and a whole lot more
Kissing and cuddling at Grenda’s door
And Frankie’s emails can be such a bore
But Frankie’s tough and down to the core
About driver safety and the odd errant flaw
Always pleasant but he gets on your craw
By being the best HR man you ever saw
A necessary evil caused by law
Maybe Frankie just drew the short straw
With broad shoulders and pretty tough jaw
Ya gotta’ be tough as the managers gnaw
But we luvs ya’ Frankie that’s for sure

I raised my sharpest knife
And pressed down
In total control
I could read your every word
Once I applied my blade
And removed your insides
Your outer body lay so still
On my table
And in such intrepidation
I now have a huge price to pay
The miserable way I tore at your body
For I ordered your demise
I hated you so passionately then
But you turned up un-invited
Un-expected
I opened you up in anger
And now pay back is imminent
Your cheque is on its way