Imminent loss of liberties in Australia

Delicate Balance

‘The delicate balance between freedom and security may have to shift.’

— Tony Abbott, Australian Prime Minister


Tilting
on edge,
the fall.

Point
of return
profitable
as security.

Butterfly
with its effect
torn off —

as brutal
as the cruel
child, bitter
adult.

Sets the gallery’s
seismographs off
before walls
even move, art
stable as iron
ore.

Sovereign
with self-styled
head, done
in coal.

Doesn’t require
comparison
with other
titular heads:

needs no precedent,
is its own pedestal.

Your signature,
elusive and solid
as its digital record.

You’ve created
a placebo,
ephemera:

together we can
keep an eye on
each other,

push the shift
key.


John Kinsella