Danksta Downunder, a.k.a. Hamish Danks Brown of Noosa Heads, is the founding heads-and-tails of the newly emerging microstate of Danksta Downunder. This is a realm devoted to performance poetry, writing, music, experimenta and obscura.

When wounds of WWW wind on

April 26 | Hamish Brown

When www used to mean World Wide War
then Big Jock was posted to the infantry
and went all the way over to Gelibolu for
to give the Turk no delight &/or dysentry!
Having survived a deadly Dardanelles campaign
he was rewarded with a second time no chance
and yet outlived the fatal fields of Champagne
to help the Huns find their way out of France!

So in nineteen-eighteen he returned to Melbourne all intact
to meet Little Jock born two months before the armistice pact!
O Cumhuriyet Turkiye! O Republique Francaise Cinquieme!
My Grandpa Big Jock was another drop in your history’s stream!

When www used to mean World Wide War
then Little Jock was posted to Air Squadron 452
and went all the way over the Owen Stanleys for
to give the Nips no warning and take photos too!
Having survived an All American B-52 bomb attack
he was rewarded with a second time no choice
and yet finished four years flying into ack-ack-ack
to help the Allies to victory and rowdily rejoice!

So in nineteen-forty-six he returned but to Sydney instead
to take it up with Cora and make a family from their bed!
O Papua Niugini! O Meiji Throne of Chrysanthemum Flowers!
My Dad – Just as Big Jock – had moments in your nations’ hours!

Now www refers to that omni-incessant World Wide Web
so every Jock and Joss and Junior can now witness online
all the World’s Widening Wars and gulfs of blood tide ebb:
Darfur – what for? Rwanda – no wonder! Paxless Palestine!
All the Africarnage, the Iraqi anarchy and Balkan brutality
while we splurge and crap on about the rising cost of living!
Limbless victims, stateless refugees, and abandoned neutrality
thrill the Coalition of the Willing! Do we deserve any forgiving?

We expect to stop climate change while we cannot let peace start
when the wounds of www wind on with all of us still facing apart
when the wounds of www wind on
when the wounds wind on….
FFF THE WWW OFF!!!

Well, Big Jock retired to Tewantin for the fishing and left us via Laguna Bay.
and Little Jock’s nearly eighty-nine now but not quite ready for his takeaway:
he still doesn’t like talking about the war and believes it’s all human failure
yet he still keeps one fading photo of Big Jock coming home in khaki regalia.

From the abyss of Abu Gharib to the baying gulag of Guantanamo
FFF THE WWW OFF!!! When the wounds of war wind on here below….

Hamish has two my space websites. On one he writes about poetry, writing, music and other interests such as performing, reading, history and archaeology * link to site while the other focuses on amalgamation and other local issues * link to site