A Time for Bad Poetry

Abstract

We return to the city of Melbourne seeking disruption in disrupted times. Bauldelaire said each of us must ‘Always be a poet, even in prose’. In these darkest times, such injunctions from the wise departed seem to have more force, so with this in mind we set out looking for poetry for our urban prose. In a moment of generational peril surely the ancestors have something to teach about survival. We revisit the Melbourne General Cemetery where free eye association brings much life focused poetry to our attention. We caught text inscribed on the final vaults of human life. Not award winning stuff but hard won species wisdom recorded in scraps of funereal verse. We read: always observe and cherish, love and justice. Amen to that!