Statues Of Q E 2: Fortunately Few Poem by Douglas Scotney

Pictures of the Queen,
ubiquitously seen
in her early decades,
were taken down in the seventies
and not replaced;

not for republicans' feelings,
but for hers,
and those of sympathizers
with foreknowledge that the Queen
would soon be seen
as the symbol of the failure
to acknowledge
the invasion of Australia.

With no pictures of her up,
none could come down.
Statues of Arthur Phillip and Cook
would come to the fore
to be roped
and pulled to the floor.