Good Dog Bad Dog, One Lost Child

This is something that I wrote in my WednesdayWorkshop with Emilie Collyer. The probe was to write a poem as if it was a newspaper article or vice versa, not to think too much, and to go with the first idea.

I was really struck with something I had read in the paper that morning (and when it had happened) and a kerfuffle at the Sunshine Magistrates Court the day before with loads of media there (not really sure that this is what they were there for, however it did make me think of this family).

Family rallies around torn shreds of child

Mauled by dog

Now held on rod

Community now ripped apart

Good dog and bad

The owners are barking out loud

Foam frothing at mouth

Reports flow in from o' abroad

The barking gets louder

With teeth all bared

Men in suits murmur

And shake their heads

Conflicting thoughts, O', what to do

A family now with one less to hold

Stands closely with their dark skin

Fled had they from war torn lands

To be free from suffering 

And Warlord Kings

A bark now frightens them more than they could 'er know

Good dog, bad dog

Who will know.