Fortnightly Poem 6.B (Karen’s)

My two poems this week were prompted by the up coming referendum on the Voice to Parliament. I have written a poem explaining why I’m voting Yes, entitled It’s the very least we can do, but it’s a bit too new and needs more editing – so here is one I wrote in 2002 after seeing the movie Rabbit Proof Fence. It’s from my collection Remembering how to Cry.

Not Just Sorry Johnny (Remembering How to Cry)

Never seen such an audience of stunned mullets

No crackling lolly wrappers.

No laborious fumbling for under seat bags.

We sat there silent, as the credits and our tears, rolled

Sitting there shaken—so many emotions:

hard to untangle:awe and respect,

despair and horror, and shame,

not just sorrow Johnny –shame

Image of ragged trudging

Wavering in the heat mist

Wild black outlines

In the sun bleached sky

Awe at courage, tenacity, survival skills

Making the laughable ‘Survivor’ even more so

We know none of us, let alone our kids

could do that, to get back to mum

We can’t cope with minimal

roughing it on camping trips

moaning when the fire won’t light

or the lilo goes down

Respect for the strength of that bond:

mothering that knows no bounds

multiple mothers always there

Or they would be,if the children were there

Long ago I cried on the tram

going to work when I left my

baby with caring strangers

Fantasised about going bush

And horror that our ‘civilised’ arrogance

could dismiss such fundamental ties-

Could not hear those heart wracking cries

of motherless children and the silence

I fiercely clutch my own (eight and

fourteen) trying and failing

to imagine if some uniformed stranger

came and took them

Stole them!

My children!

And shame at being kin to the white invaders

who stole your country and then your children

knowing I am connected to those flat haired

bureaucrats who claimed the superiority to ‘protect’.

I don’t even like social workers

or teachers who think they know

more than me about looking after

my kids, my precious kids

So many emotions

And yes, ‘sorry’ is not nearly enough

It’s shame, Johnny,

Shame