Best Brisbane Poems
WHEELIE BIN JOE
On the north side of Brisbane lives a man who does no wrong,
He pongs a bit, he's grubby and his beard and hair are long,
He sits upon the footpath mid plastic bags all sorts,
Black garbage round his shoulders and white ones on for shorts,
A yuppie down the footpath tripped,
and soon fell over Joe,
Recoiled in shock as horror gripped,
climbed off the "so and so."
So now they leave him on his throne,
cross the street to the other side,
From his house front boards, the nails have flown,
weather boards have gone to hide.
The prophet peers from neath his robes,
bags plastic shuffled flies,
In trance the seer discards his clothes,
as fresh plastic he applies,
Oh he'd tell us all of what he knows,
If he perchance did speak,
But plastic fumes get up his nose,
and cause his brain to squeak.
So if you pass the prophet there,
do spare a thought for him,
see his waiscoat's very shiny glare,
but the plastics getting thin.
The winter wind it whistles but Joe has cause to grin,
for the masters call, he's waiting to right some deadly sin.
Sponsor Paula Swanson
Contest Name Do You Know The Cardboard Man?
Categories:
brisbane, adventure,
Form:
Rhyme
Sponsor Nancy Jones
Contest Name Things that suck
Lest we forget the Bad decisions …
(Myxo the rabbit steal the Bagmans Bunny), first use of a deadly weapon
( Cane toads 4 cane beetles,)( 12 atom bombs exploded …what!!!)
Does anyone remember back in 1955 …
why we were blessed with atom bombs….
we are lucky to be left alive …
The Liberals said its fine…
No need to bloody worry mate….
12 atom bombs that’s all…
The Poms might us incinerate…(British)
And leave some mushrooms tall…
And we of the convict strain …
10 Thousand died that’s all…(bones kept 12 thousand suspicious deaths….)
Brisbane town a falling radioactive rain …
Geiger counter saw it fall……….tech guy couldn’t zero the counter it got worse near window,
rain in Brisbane…..1955/56
So I said to a Pom you dropped the bomb….
No, a tower they’d had a seat…
Strontium 90 in the milk for some….
Off the grass the cows did eat…….free milk for the school kiddies back then:(…
So the order of the garter …
Was given to some mug …
For atom bombs the barter….
And they surely burnt our rug.. :(
The master is there for the master….
To keep the worker down …..
To contract for the cheapest slave…
Like the business side of town …….
The CSIRO man Marston? In the fifties found enlarged thyroids in sheep he checked all over
Australia Found evidence of the radioactive poisoning of Australia …He tried to warn the
Australian public but only got his comments In some farmers magazine due to political
interference by the master …..
This is what happened and there is a documentry available in the Aussie ABC shop.
Categories:
brisbane, adventure
Form:
Rhyme
Brisbane
Rain squall just came from east of me,
Came blowing from the big blue sea,
5 pm the windows shut,
For I in Brisbane be.
Brown snakes and lizards do hide,
From the city dwellers, do slide,
Green Frogs there used to be,
Cane toads suck em down for free,
Green Frogs don’t suicide.
Fly screens keep the mossies out,
Midges sand flies, catch you out,
They come through to get you Clyde,
There is no itch in doubt.
The sun the sand the cooling breeze,
Live on the beach, be at your ease,
Hippies still enjoy the lifestyle, these,
Things are of our nation…
Brisbane at 5pm
Categories:
brisbane, adventure,
Form:
Ballad
The vicks
Johnson is me poor old name,
Brisbane town is where I’m staying,
Had 100 jobs I’m saying,
A some times Diversional Therapist.
(entertain the old n decrepid)
Tried burying for half a week,
Wouldn’t let me smile, or squeak,
Drove a council bus,
punched out a few,
Who’d fight, no fuss.
Bouncer in the Valley,
Loved the chicks,
Woke up in strange beds with hicks
Accidently used the vicks,
Talk about the ring of fire?
Don Johnson 21-july-11
tracie edwards
Contest Name Getting to know you
Categories:
brisbane, adventureold, me, old,
Form:
Rhyme
Wharf Stoush
Twenty years ago I drove a bus, day or night,
For Brisbane council yes I drove blue Panthers I'm no skite,
To New Farm Wharf I drove a load of passengers, orright,
But one big Wharfie picked on me, and ordered me to fight,
He said I drove a cattle truck, I agreed that he was right,
With seventy people on the bus, the crowd was packed so tight,
They stood and watched and waited, while he and I'd alight,
They'd see the match a blood sport, their favorite delight ,
He came for me a flailing, with arms both swinging, bright,
A straight left flashed to hit his chin, he fell alright,
His hat flew off it left him it sailed on out of sight,
He said “thank you Mr” and walked into the nite.
Shani Fassbender
Contest Name Tell Me a Secret
Categories:
brisbane, adventure, me, me,
Form:
Monorhyme
Old Flossy
by Don Johnson
Brisbane-Australia
It was there on Sharpen station, ....(ranch)
west near Adavale i'd be.
Back in the early thirties,
worst drought you'd ever see.
Five thousand cows were dying slow,
brought from lake Nash to Adavale. ....(droving trip)
They lived on mulga bushes low, ...........(13% tree leaves drought food)
to feed their bodies frail.
I was the boy who manned the pump,
fat crows in thousands waited.
With not a blade of grass or single clump,
those crows for sure i hated.
The cattle bitsa old flossy had nine pups,
more company for me.
For i'd get a visit once a month,
yes it's then the boss i'd see.
The dead cows around the trough did lie,
and i'd snig them right away.
I'd shifted hundreds by and by,
cut and quartered where they lay.
The pups were disappearing fast,
one every day for sure.
I checked the camp and missed the last,
saw snake tracks upon the floor.
Old Mulga snake would breathe no more,
he'd had his last pup meal.
He was big as nine foot four,
when the last pup he did steal.
Old flossy fought him tooth and nail,
he'd bit her also too.
She chewed his head off didn`t fail,
was dying this she knew.
I held her dying with my arm,
her pleading eyes i saw.
She went to sleep so very calm,
passed on through death's front door.
in 1936 old yellow flossy died game!
In this lonely place with death all around you, it was tragic for young Don to lose his
dog. Aussie shepherds (cattle dogs) will defend you, camp on your doorstep.
Categories:
brisbane, adventureold, old,
Form:
Rhyme
Maralinga, Maralinga,
where the white mans fire still burns,
Where atomic radiation made the little creatures squirm,
Where walked old Nooran Gurra with the Emu fella dance,
Where the bloody fire an brimstone didn't give em any chance,
bloody radiation, awful fire of death still burns,
An his bone are bleaching whiter,
Has his spirit come to terms,
Not bloody likely,
So they give us Maralinga,
So linger longer, yes we can,
Does luekemia point the finger,
If we live upon the land.?
?? Don
yes by crikey, death and sand...
Maralinga was just one of the 1950s, British, 12 atomic blast sites, before the radiation blew to the four corners of Australia giving us the sweet subtle strontium 90 in the cows milk off the radioactive grass that the cows did eat. And the geigher counter service guy couldn't stop the counter working franticly cos the radioactive rain was falling in Brisbane in 1955...
Categories:
brisbane, adventure,
Form:
Ballad
Ladies marry the man of their dreams in a church
Eventually... she end up married to a couch that burps
Happens the world over
From Brisbane to Dover
Could've been an axe murderer and things would've been worse
Categories:
brisbane, fun,
Form:
Limerick
Brisbane Sonnet
Heroes
The heroes I've seen always tell the same extravagant lie;
A dashing smile, handsome looks, strength superior to anything.
It seems as though these heroes have nothing to worry about.
But it's all simply a stereotype, sometimes the heroes say goodbye,
Some of them hold too much on their shoulders, a bell without a ring.
The true heroes must blend in with humanity while carrying doubt.
Worrying that their families will turn away and see them as the bad guy,
Worrying that they will no longer be under sanity's left wing.
Worrying that their pasts will catch up and leave them to scream and shout.
These heroes come home and are left to ask the same question, "Why?"
Why has this "free" country they fought for left them dangling on a string?
Why have the people they once loved in this country simply kicked them out?
The heroes that I've seen always tell the same extravagant lie,
For its the strongest people that will fall and cry.
Categories:
brisbane, absence, bereavement, hero,
Form:
Sonnet
Come an get the gall-fat Harry,
Dirranabandi in the thirties ,
Poor ole Crothers had to frown,
Boomi-Jack’s got a sheep down,
Sucking chops an eating, clown,
Come an get the gall-fat Harry,
Harry Crothers was the local Squatter,
Boomi the bush arsonist,
Burnt out the Eight mile, good an proper,
Was partial to some sodgy parsnips,
Come an get the gall-fat Harry,
Boomi-Jacks got a sheep down,
Harry owned the Eight mile,
Harrys grass was burnt and gone,
Burnt out for ole Lindsay,
Harry sacked him, fore he’d gone,
Come an get the gall-fat Harry,
Boomi-Jacks got a sheep down,
Payback of the Boomi-Jack,
Ten bob paid to Boomi-Jack
Burning Belah trees on the track,
Burnt em into little logs,
Fascinated by cross-burnt nogs,
But no he wasn’t slack?
Boomi crossed the ole Balonne,
River bridge, his shadow cast upon,
Copper spoke from the other side, on on,
“Boomi-Jack, you’re jailed tarred and gone”,
Boomi dumped the jolly jumbuck,
In a river running a banker, but,
“Want the evidence swim for it copper,
Otherwise you is outa luck”:}
Don Johnson
gall fat was the fat round the kidneys on a sheep,
used for cooking on the nineteen fiftys, wood stove
i used to have my eggs fried under kidney fat,
great tucker never mind the cholestrial ...
YOU AINT LIVED TILL YOU TRY THIS DELICASY:}
Fifty years ago in Dirranbandi 400 mile west of the Brisbane coast,
people were robbed of their rightful wages and took an occasional Sheep off the master who was MR or Sir ....The Sir Squatter ate his neighbours sheep or cattle too ...
If it dared to eat his grass it paid the price:}
Categories:
brisbane, adventure,
Form:
Ballad
Wally Brummell, fed em on Crow, ...
johnsondon2•261 videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0BmZZhbO-U
444 views
Uploaded on Oct 3, 2008
Wally some call him Zip (fed em black duck) (crow actually)Kakadu song man of Gulf town Karumba Australia
Stay alive in 55 and 56 said the roadside sign..
As the Ford Mercury whizzed by on local Brisbane time...
A flat head v8 jumped into a muffled roar...
And Bronco Don gave it its head full bloody bore..
Bill Brummell was a waiting aunty Nell was coming by..
And of course she'd bring the Johnsons little grubs like Mark and I...
So we lurched and wobbled cross country to the coast...
And aunty Grace was awaiting for sure shed cooked a roast..
So I followed cousin Wally about the Cleveland farm..
And watched him eat a melon from the inside without harm
Cut a hole put his head in, call him melon head?..
Just like a giant white ant this I say god strike me dead?..
Down in the valley my love is so low...
Sang old Slim Whitman on the valve radio..
old Don bought an inter truck a droving we would go..
to the Moonie floods back more than 50 years or so...
then Zip some call him Walter, he got a grand idea...
went to shoot some wild duck with a threeoh and some beer.... .303cal
so he lined up a wood duck but a crow got in the way..
so he reefed and pulled the trigger, just tough duck is all he'd say...
yes these ducks had big black feathers when talking they said ark...(not like them squeaky yank crows)
Wally plucked and filled the stew pot says its duck or just a lark..
Drunken ring barkers were hungry scoffed the lot in one quick feed...
And they were farting feathers till the crowing parts were freed...
Don Johnson...
Categories:
brisbane, adventure,
Form:
Ballad
Dougal Cameron 1900s
by Don Johnson
Brisbane..Australia.
Old Dougal Cameron was the man,
the cruel red desert country crossed.
Drove cattle cross the trackless plains,
out where Burke and Wills were lost.
He'd travel o'er a hundred mile ,
with bawling cattle parched with thirst.
He'd find em water bushman style,
though dry creek beds made him curse.
Little crippled Murray's' loved him best
he'd find em on a water hole.
Lost they'd perish nature's test,
yes old Dougal's heart was gold.
Fed on sugared damper with a grin,
and a drop of billy tea.
Dougal cared enough to take em with him,
got them homes with friends he'd see.
Rodger Beadmore came with Dougal,
till they found the Bollon road.
Was there adopted by old Beadmore,
and a swapped horse Dougal rode.
Many children lost to perish,
owe their lives to Dougal's care.
Many of these Boori's cherish,
one old drover who was there
Cameron's corner is in the center of Australia...Dougal had a station(ranch) Camlet west
of Bollon...Dougal found lost children and brought them with him hundreds of miles .
He used pack horses and these small children rode in the Pack saddles.
Maud Billy was one child Paddy Mellon and Roger Beadmore are some of the many names ...
Categories:
brisbane, adventurechildren, old, lost, water,
Form:
Rhyme
Oh, where do you sleep my lost German friend,
where do your bleached bones lie?
Believe me good Sir, we did search for you,
we gave it our best try.
You woke from its sleep this giant of a land
by treading the wild unknown,
displaying true grit and resourcefulness,
you're known for that alone.
From Brisbane you trekked to Port Essington,
a journey of courage no doubt.
You gambled with fate, though played out a trump,
a feat still talked about.
By ship you then sailed to Sydney down south,
where you were lionised.
Your name it was on almost every lip,
your fame unequalised.
The blood in your veins, though, hungered to
search
that never-never, land
and set on your way to wake her some more,
though fate laid down her hand.
The last written words you penned to this world
came from McPherson's run,
north-west of the town called Roma, Sir,
then near oblivion.
Though men talk about you to this very day
around the campfire’s glow,
your name is embedded in mystery, Sir,
"Just where did Leichhhardt go?"
"Oh, where do you sleep my lost German friend",
is asked by city push
and all that the country folk can reply,
is "Leichhardt”s in the bush."
The Cecil Plains Homestead, on the Darling Downs, Queensland, held a special day to
commemorate the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt and in conjunction with the day they held a
written competition with the subject- theme being, “Leichhardt in the Bush”. The above
poem took out 1st place.
Categories:
brisbane, history, people, day, lost,
Form:
Rhyme
Memorable Vacations
Queensland was a dream come true,
Along forest lake walks under the blue,
Summers of December 2010 on my sis' invite,
Excited we were for the double delight,
Long travel concluded into a toast,
Beaches and sea, Byron bay and Gold Coast,
Gold of sand slipped under our feet,
Glittered in sun the irresistible greet,
Waves that thrashed on us with every tide,
Engulfed us after a roller coaster ride,
Kangaroos that into every street hopped,
To give them way every now and then we stopped,
People were humble and kind,
Serpentine roads turning blind,
Sunny day we visited famous sea world,
Dolphins with music in unison twirled,
Kids together on giant wheel screamed,
Watched favourite movies and gleamed,
Train travel and beauty of countryside,
River Brisbane traversed with ferry ride,
Sydney opera house, bridge and harbour,
New year eve with fireworks and great fervor,
Days of goodbye when approached near,
Subtle emotions flowed and rolled the tears,
As we close our eyes and reminisce,
Days spent together were such a bliss !
Written May 7th , 2015
For Shadow Hamilton's contest
First place win
Now entered for contest "Any old poem#5 " by SKAT A
Entered for "Landscape and towns" contest by Bic Gi-Sa
Categories:
brisbane, memory,
Form:
Couplet
Our sponsor papers much earlier had reached,
To my dear sister we had promised,
This vacation we were to spend in Brisbane,
Surgeon declared emergency, plans in vain,
Oh trip to Australia, landed up in hospital instead!
Planned a gala party at home,
Leaving unturned not a single stone,
Invitation sent to esteemed guests,
Sickness left me quite stressed,
Food bland soups, no lavish bone!
Planned to meet beloved on a bright day,
Dressed in favourite blue, I was on my way,
Much to my agony, he said he was stuck,
A bad vacation it was, and my bad luck,
Consoled myself, thinking he must be gay !
Written on 13/7/14
Contest- Vacation humor
Sponsor- Carolyn Devonshire
Categories:
brisbane, angst, humor,
Form:
Limerick