Hi there HAPPY FRIDAY!

My latest poem has been updated – & definitely improved. Here is the link

https://antonmartinsmith.com/2025/08/12/my-so-called-ptsd-life-a-poem/

I’ve made it more reflective of how (in those dark few years) I felt when I was thirty five & living in a big foreign city (Melbourne). Melbourne is just like any of the dog-eat-dog big city, but it pretends to be a fluffy cat instead. Isn’t it weird how cities – usually big gnarly ones – delude themselves with some fake arsed-rosie-false-city-hall-marketing-a-fied image of themselves? Of course the ‘super serfs’ in these cities – the ones with ‘good incomes & alcohol’ like to pretend they are rich – but we’re onto them aren’t we! These types are at least good to write about. I guess people (other than the totally downtrodden – who see the truth becasue it’s kicking them hard daily) in big cities (like Melbourne) want to hide the fact they are, for the most part – living in mostly ‘just another run of the mill hamster treadmill’.

But then again, this self deception is normal behaviour for a human, a city, a nation. The brain (or culture) has to create a world which is inhabitable for its owner (s), & it will happily lie to its conscious layer. People (or a culture/society) would rather go insane that to recognise an unpalettable truth: A Big Western City – Like Melbourne Australia – Is At Best A ‘Polished Turd’.

All this makes me want to dress like a serf & haul a giant placard down Bourke St, then stop when I’m in front of MYERS DEPARTMENT STORE & hold up the sign that says:

OH THE DEPRESSIVE GLORY OF IT ALL!!!

IT’S ALL A GAME!!!

CHEAP THRILLS WALLOW SWEETLY,

IN THE RICH HEARTY SOILS OF:

MELBOURNE CBD STYLE NIHILISM!!!

SCREW THE CORPORATE PIGS!!!

(ok I’m too lazy to actually do that).

I will keep this short & quit whiel i’m ahead (behind?) – so enjoy the updated version of the poem!

‘May the creativity live with you’

Martin Anton Smith (aka Anton Martin Smith)

P.s. The ‘main image’ of the poem was created via ‘Grok’ AI – the people of Melbourne may recognise the background as “Flinders Street station”, & the cities flagship newspaper. It’s quite a good image.