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Rattle and Co

Hollow is the office that holds this scene
of affected accents and dire attempts at a work ethic
the summarily summoned numerical crunchers throng
around the water coolers dry

Far flung from the passion of crowds, the assembled company:
Rattle and Co go about their business
of rendering the same discordant whine,
the gift to the people holding out begging bowls

Soon, they will vacate this room, in the Georgian prestige
district, to slink away to some gravelled concrete abandon
where they can ply the trade of crunching once more
quiet in the shade of pot plants and time

Neglected by those they cared for and despised by those
they care naught for, the street ambles mutely past
ignorant of the existence of that once great institution,
to rattle and cough through another year.

Style / type: 
Free verse
Review Request (Intensity): 
I appreciate moderate constructive criticism
Last few words: 
There was, once upon a time, in a a far flung colony of the British Empire, an actual accounting firm called 'Rattle & Co'. Like colonialism, I think they were an accident of history. Rough draft, working on this one, honest!
Editing stage: 

Comments

Your write was fine, and brought home a few points of how some were treated.
I suppose the accidents of history brought about the modern Australia that I saw when on a short visit there and the USA and Canada and many modern countries, due I think to our chequered history.
Many have a habit of decrying colonialism but where would most of these places be without it, just think on, I know it was very cruel at times, but the world would be a lot poorer if it hadn't happened.
Still not for me to worry about it it's just history as you say.
Take care and I look forward to your future writes,
Yours Ian.T

.
There are a million reasons to believe in yourself,
So find more reasons to believe in others..

Colonialism did bring it's benefits in some senses. Dont get me wrong here, I don't disparage the whole project, for starters a lot of people wouldn't even be here. But- we would be remiss to ignore it's dark side too. Take Tasmania for example, where I am.Yes, a very beautiful place with stunning scenery and national parks, some lovely Georgian architecture in Hobart etc. And VERY lucky to live here.
Also, it needs to be noted that colonialism brought the enforced convict labour of so many Irish, Scots and English, Welsh prisoners, many of them convicted of very petty crimes, such as stealing a handkerchief leading to mandatory transportation ( I kid you not, I've read some of the convict's stories) they included children, this being Vitorian England and sent them to the infamous Port Arthur penal settlement. These folks were really the slave labour that built the infrastructure for the fox hunting gentry (yes they imported those too, along with their beloved Oaks). Also, there was the 'black line' or 'black war' which anhialated the indigenous population in the name of the white settlers, in order to make way for the lords and those lucky enough to obtain a 'ticket of leave' and farming. Luckily the unfairf transportatiion system ended in the 1850s - and VanDiemens land as it was then known, was renamed in honour of the dutch explorer who first surveyed the Island in the 1640s. The aboriginal population, didnt fare so well, and what remained of them was herded to MacQuarie Island and other locations, where thay all but died out through illness and neglect, in what amounted to one of the first real Genocides. Two books spring to mind if you want to know more about the early colonial history of Australia one non-fiction "The fatal shore" by Robert Hughes is essential reading, and also a novel, by our own Richard Flannagan "Wanting" which I can both highly recommend.
Cheers, and happy reading!

Chris Hall - Tasmania

Grossbooted draymen rolled barrels dullthudding out of Prince's stores and bumped them up on the brewery float. On the brewery float bumped dullthudding barrels rolled by grossbooted draymen out of Prince's stores.

author comment

i loved this poem it is very lovely

I appreciate the kind words, I will check out your work too!

Chris Hall - Tasmania

Grossbooted draymen rolled barrels dullthudding out of Prince's stores and bumped them up on the brewery float. On the brewery float bumped dullthudding barrels rolled by grossbooted draymen out of Prince's stores.

author comment

I don't recall the name, but the mind is rotting and I could easily have forgotten.
Anyway.
I don't know that I would continue to work on this. The language skills you possess are stunning and in sharp display here.
The subject subtly hidden (though not too much) and the format uses a very consistent meter giving it an attractive flow all and all.
Is the reason I don't remember you due to you being gone for a time and now returned?
I do so hope you stick around if only to give me a chance to read your poetry.
If I can make the time (that's hard these days) I would very much like to look at some of your other posts. You may find me turning up on some of your older poems.
A nice piece of poetry.

W. H. Snow

A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds. Percy Bysshe Shelley

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I don't think I've had the pleasure, as yet. I too, drift in and out as time, meandering life and mind permits. If you haven't read my stuff before, it crops up here and there on the net, I thank you for yout kind words and will endeavour to delve into some your stuff and try to be a little more timely responding. Im moving house ( yet again) down here in Tasmania and will likely drop off the radar for a bit, but will certainly be back! All the best for the holidays, whatever that may bring. Cheers. Chris.

Chris Hall - Tasmania

Grossbooted draymen rolled barrels dullthudding out of Prince's stores and bumped them up on the brewery float. On the brewery float bumped dullthudding barrels rolled by grossbooted draymen out of Prince's stores.

author comment

the herd...accumulation.....ancient as raiding parties...the streets full of the idle
survival of the fittest....and Passion made those survive and write their accounts..
time and paper...Love...Hate.....First hand accounts of people put in camps..
prisoner of war some kind of non penal imprisonment and worked for nothing
other then result...be it production for profit at lives cost..or pleasure...Man the
forever beast at either end of the burdens of history...Creation or Crushing
otherwise....This makes me think of my relationships of which I gave much to
get the basics....how Love shang Hais many into long voyages and workings
set in tailings and reductions...movements of transport of some kind...
for pennies and potatoes to live on at times.....

not like victorian times but I had my moments.....at fifty still crunching the
existance...here a better poverty then pure poverty....Love grists.....like
the love of money..power..control...and I remember how those that lived
in that time..they loved themselves....they found a belief of something...
and did works for others to keep their humanity in very inhuman conditions
the ones that gave up passed on right away or illness which are still much
the odds...but even more so in that kind of terminal destinations....

A great insightful write and poem!

thank you!

Now that all the helter skelter and ceremony of Christmas has passed, I might have a bit more time to get back into it. I'm reading a new work "The Black War" by Nick Clements (local historian) which gives a more balanced account of the war from primary source material - seems not everything is quite black and white in war, nothing changes in that respect eh? Many thanks for your comments, and as ever, I will endeavour to check out your stuff too.

Cheers,

Chris.

Chris Hall - Tasmania

Grossbooted draymen rolled barrels dullthudding out of Prince's stores and bumped them up on the brewery float. On the brewery float bumped dullthudding barrels rolled by grossbooted draymen out of Prince's stores.

author comment
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