Clay Thistleton


A (Seventh) Triptych of Poems
in the Manner of Tom Jenks’ “Spruce”
During the Time of the Coronavirus Pandemic

(i) “The Berejiklian Government is Infectious in the Community”


abandoning COVID-zero by some unused steel rings
a game-changing rabbit hole at Kirribilli House
A Canberran’s Turd in Merimbula by John Barilaro

the disease modelling of the big swinging dicks
the Berejiklian government is infectious in the community
mixed messaging at the shredding session

the single social-bubble buddies declare a code black
the rapture as stranger-to-stranger transmission
the hot angry pelt of tropical rainstorms



(ii) “Scomo and Gladys are Living with COVID”

	for Debra Dudek


Delta Cream Arnott’s face a consumer backlash
in the back of the fridge by the undrunk Corona
a lost sixty billion in the schnitzel at The Lodge

gain-of-function research on the inert prime minister
Scomo and Gladys are living with COVID
empathy training for the incompetent vampires

second-hand Pfizer on Jabba the Bus
mansplaining The Croods from the national parliament
a cold condensation beads on mortuary windows



(iii) “Scotty from Marketing is Not Fit-for-purpose”


shifting blame to the order of tectonic plates
playing the fantasy leagues of diversified vaccine portfolios
announcing a paddock’s bio-security protocols

Harvey Norman declares itself a sovereign state
Scotty from Marketing is not fit-for-purpose
spillover infections from the happy clappers

a nationwide karma for the India travel ban
acceptable death rates by the rorted JobKeeper payments
in rows and neat columns the white crosses stand

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Clay Thistleton, with a slight assist from the Editor, has provided what we've called "Briefing Notes on the Capital sHills for non-Australians."

John Barilaro was the 18th Deputy Premier of the Australian state of New South Wales (2016-2021). At the height of Australia’s COVID-19 Delta wave in September 2021 Barilaro blamed Canberra residents for seeding the virus in neighbouring New South Wales communities despite the fact that the Canberra outbreak itself (and every other Delta case in Australia and New Zealand) could be traced back to a New South Wales index case. Barilaro retired from politics in October 2021.

Gladys Berejiklian was the 45th Premier of New South Wales (2017-2021). She led the state through the worst of the 2021 Delta crisis only to unexpectedly resign in the face of a corruption probe in October 2021.

Jabba the Bus is a 1999 Scania 4-series motor omnibus and an initiative of the government of the Australian state of Victoria to provide a mobile COVID vaccination service to regional Victorian communities.

Scott “Scomo” Morrison (also known as “Scotty from Marketing”) is the 30th and current Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia (2018-). Maintaining residences at The Lodge in Canberra and Kirribilli House in Sydney, Morrison likened Australia’s exit strategy from COVID restrictions to the exit from the cave in the 2013 animated DreamWorks feature The Croods. Morrison’s government has been widely criticised for failing to provide an adequate supply of COVID vaccines in a timely manner. In May 2021 the Morrison government instituted a controversial travel ban on Delta-ravaged India. JobKeeper, part of a suite of COVID payments made to the Australian community from 2020 onwards, was an initiative of the Morrison government.

Harvey Norman is a long-standing and highly successful Australian retail company. In 2021 it was revealed that Harvey Norman, along with many other companies, may have benefited financially from excess payments made under the Morrison government’s JobKeeper arrangements. In August 2021 Harvey Norman announced that it had repaid millions of dollars from the scheme back to the Australian government. Overall, more than $6 billion was paid out to companies that, it has now been found, should not have qualified for financial assistance.

 
 

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