if only it was past tense

i have learnt to identify with the title BELIGERANT
i know now how to not be an 'expert'
to deny all claims to knowledge
to cover my tracks, to talk backwards to contextualise, to historicise to remember i participate in what i know
is any of that transferable
is any of that employable
is any of that destined to win me friends and influence people
i sincerely doubt it
the world outside the essays i write is dictated by the almighty right
they don't like post modernism
they want history to be taught as a linnear narrative, not as a series of themes
they want it to start preferrably at Gallipoli, where Australia proved they could be losers and find something heroic in it
get stuck in a big hole NATIONAL HERO
play cricket NATIONAL HERO
horse with a big heart NATIONAL HERO

theres five minutes till the revolution, garry suggests bringing the radio down to the foreshore he is convinced there will be fireworks. everyone loves fireworks he says even Che.

who would you follow into violence? would anyone make you leave your cds in the hands of the enemy and burn down the art supply shop? Would Charlie Perkins/Garry Foley/Kevin Gilbert/ ever get to be a badge for the Socialist Alliance? would you quote foucault at the firing squad? Would you meet secretly at night at the back of atomica and plan to blow up