Of Hard Things (Unsettled in Australia, chapbook sample #2)

.

they made you
out of rocks and glass
and all the hard things
shards and gravel
of your home soil
lying under a village
shot to pieces

they baked you
at pressure brittle dry
land-locked
til you cracked

they made you
out of things that burn
like not knowing if you can stay
if you'll be safe next week-after-week
from being sent back
to the men who put bullets
through your home
and the family in it

they made you
to combust
skin like kindling
out of nineteen months
on a prison island
all your Christmas' never came
til at once

that last human ember of protest
sparked within
you
couldn't take any more
of what my country denied
you


          set yourself on fire


then one morning
they made me
come and get you
out of the Alfred psych ward

had a wad of petty-cash
from DIAC
some stuffed shopping bags
and an address in Dandenong
to drive out to
then leave you there

and through that
they made me
feel


like I was an accomplice







_______________________

#UnsettledinAustralia









-Peace










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