Samuel Maguire
skydekkerix.com
Violent Machines
A scuttling noise
orange aluminium beats a staccato
on stained concrete
And the man rises
presenting his dangling wrist
like some horrid gift
Severed bone
sticking rudely out
a stray bristle on an overused paintbrush
What is there to do?
One lady
has already called an ambulance
And the other
desperately trying to unlock his phone
with his limp and bloody finger
Sticks and Flintstones
Mary
Please know, this is from a place
of pure love and understanding.
I understand, that picture you shared on Facebook
telling your friends
that one should never look down upon,
bully or make fun of
those with a physical or mental disability,
comes from the goodness of your heart
I know, that you
are a 60 year old casual hospitality worker from Mackay
and your exposure to social media
comes recent in your relative timeline
and your rural upbringing means that these concepts
while obvious to the initiated
move you, and hit close to your weathered heart
A heart you shared
as we drank after work
a pint of lager and a glass of moscato
with ice in it
We spoke of your daughter
who took away your beloved granddaughter
and my struggling marriage
as busy lives drifted us apart
I know and understand the goodness and rareness of your heart
but please tell me
for the love of all that is wholesome and genuine
why does this picture, shared so honestly,
have a picture of Fred Flintstone on it?
What does that mean?
Is it saying that Fred is a prime example
of one that has a disability
Or is Fred, in his infinite wisdom, the one relaying
this message of kindness to the masses
Or is this a copyright mark, sanctioned by the arbiters
at Hanna Barbera, branding this compassion as their own
Or, more likely, is this yet again
a callsign
of mass-produced bullshit, peddled to the lowest common denominator
as Hanna Barbera’s animations were,
minimum effort and maximum exposure
And what fills the dregs of my heart
with cold fear and hot anger
is that this, maybe,
is way more effective
far-reaching and life-changing
than anything I’ve done
Samuel Maguire is a Brisbane author and professional bipolar-haver. His debut novel No Point in Stopping was published in 2018, and he has had work published in Stilts Journal, Scum Magazine and currently works as an editor for Tiny Owl Publishing. You can find more of his fiction, poetry and brain-wrongs at his blog skydekkerix.com.