Te Deum

Seeking enlightenment
I began to dig
within the covers
of Oz literary journals
hoping to find
something worthwhile to read.

I was undeterred
by the creative absence
of punctuation
or the tendentiously designed
fractured lines
of pretentious poems.

Encouraged by the CV's
of talented scribes
competitive
in a typically Aussie way
who published novels
and books of verse
but seemed overqualified
with MA's and PhDs..

Soon disillusionment
replaced hope
my mind awash
with vacuous verbiage
and vapid inanity.

They only seemed to know
about loveless partnerships
in lofts
with tormented pets
foetid odours
binges
hangovers
and runny noses.

Sex
was presented furtively
like an adolescent wet dream
with studs
hung like horses
and the women
either sluts or angels.

Malevolent males
with names
like Roo or Cockatoo
ominously roamed
the outback paddocks
as myths
their deeds
described in putrid prose.

'Such is Life'