By Cameron Scott
Retinas melt
Progress crawls inside their eye sockets
Embracing their optic nerve
Years of gazing forward reduces eyes to dust
All our politicians see are memories
Sightless to the future
Standing in the present
Ghosts of the past floating through the breeze
Now is a time they were never meant to see
Reality warps within their eyes
Leaders with sunken faces
Blank sockets staring at realities unrealised
Watching the future move into their homes
Wallpaper is torn down
Worn-out sofas put out for curbside collection
Paintings of what is to come hang on their walls
A constant reminder that the present looks forward to a time they will never see
Electees evicted by the marching of time
The eyeless cannot forge a future
Yet they try
Using their shapeless vision to pave a path forward
Half-painted policies presented to the population
Yet the blind elect to be lead by the blind
Hollow eye sockets cannot see the future
Hollow politicians cannot lead the present
Sometimes you can feel the gaze
Needling the back of your neck
They watch you without eyes
Their excavated sockets lock onto you
Your smooth face reminds them of history
They do not take kindly to visitors from the future
So, be sure to check behind you once in a while
You might even catch their sightless gaze
Just remember
Your eyes too will melt one day
Artist Bio:
Cameron Scott is Matilda-nominated actor, writer, and stage manager hailing from the mountains of North Brisbane. As an actor he is currently training in his 3rd year of QUT’s BFA (Acting) having previously trained in NIDA’s Open program. He has performed in Crow’s Nest (The Velvet Collective + Travelling Rose Theatre), Platform (QUT Acting) and How To Vote (Underground Theatre Company) throughout his studies, and is the current treasurer of Underground Theatre. He has recently decided this wasn’t nearly enough, and has joined ScratchThat to develop his writing and poetry as well.