An Error in Creation

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis 1876 (Auburn) – 1938 (Melbourne)



There was once a man who made a weird machine,
Employing dynamite and kerosene.
His subsequent destruction
Was a matter of deduction,
And a circumstance that might have been foreseen.

This gloomy incident I merely state
In case you have a yearning to create.
In which event, be wary,
Else, mayhap, a sad quan-dary
Will arise and face you when it's far too late.

Now, take the case of Toryphat, M.P.,
Created by the voters - you and me.
Then in matters legislative
He becomes, in turn, creative.
And creates a Deakook Fusion Ministree.

You will notice that this question, as a whole,
Is a matter over which we've some control;
For, it we'd contemplated
Ere the members we created,
We would not have landed things in such a hole.

And, in regard to this strange Ministree,
We are the folk responsible, you see.
For it couldn't have existed
Had not some of us assisted
In creating its supporters - Q.E.D.

Then, when a weird political machine
Of Tory flare and Fusion kerosene
Blows our policies to blazes,
All our most embittered phrases
Won't recover e'en the smallest smithereen.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

1:00 min read
198

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBA CCDDC XDEED FFXGF DDGGC AAXXA
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,056
Words 194
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis, better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet known for his humorous poems, especially "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke", published in the early 20th century. Though Dennis's work is less well known today, his 1915 publication of The Sentimental Bloke sold 65,000 copies in its first year, and by 1917 he was the most prosperous poet in Australian history. Together with Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, both of whom he had collaborated with, he is often considered among Australia's three most famous poets. While attributed to Lawson by 1911, Dennis later claimed he himself was the 'laureate of the larrikin'. When he died at the age of 61, the Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons suggested he was destined to be remembered as the 'Australian Robert Burns'. more…

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