EARNING MERIT

Each thousand miles I fly

accumulates a Frequent Flyer point

and when I’ve earned one hundred thousand

I can, other bookings permitting,

use them for a one-way flight from Sydney

to Melbourne so long as I leave

before five a.m. and do not return –

ever.

This mighty effort to win points

produces ‘sweat of the brow,’

a fluid regarded highly in many religions

and sung about in hymns of praise

as pleasing to the Lord, a consequence

of Adam’s sin capitalised upon

by industrialists and planters who own slaves

declared as such or otherwise.

QANTAS therefore should feel free

to place small squares of gold leaf

as Buddhists do in Thailand

to acquire virtue

on the skins of their planes

making it obvious to all who fly

how attuned they are to

heaven being within reach at 30,000 feet

and that the preparation of its passengers,

through the currency of Frequent Flyer points,

with sufficient merit to land there is

their real first priority.

THE POLITICS OF DARKNESS

Winter solstice and things pick up

from here, more light and fewer

dark mornings, less toast and lukewarm coffee

taken in the gloom accompanied 

by dire warnings

and forebodings in the Herald

about federal politics’ lack of vision –

it’s hard to see the truth

when the sun

 is taking northern holidays.

But the days will lengthen now

 and politics will warm.

The season of longer days

provides relief, the earlier dawn

dispelling half-awake dreams

with their disconcerting slogans

and the shouted untruths

of bankrupt ideologies.