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O Australia Fair

August 27, 2016 By Emily 10 Comments

Australia
Image source (used with permission)

 

Australia
O Australia
The country fair

In which a white man
Took the lectern
Faced a national audience
And called for silence and respect
To tell an innocent black man that he was not that important
And that his maltreatment was just.

 

Australia
O Australia
The country fair

In which that same white man
Took the lectern
Faced a national audience
And called for silence and respect
To tell a guilty white man that his crimes were not so awful
And that his maltreatment was unjust.

 

Australia
O Australia
The country fair

In which many a white man
Takes a metaphorical lectern
Faces any audience
And expects silence and respect
To tell others how they should behave
And what to expect.

 

Australia
O Australia
The country fair

So fair, you could argue
That it’s white.

 

—

Written for a competition last year; published here, now, with the blessing of the competition organisers. There is no place for racism in Australia.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: Australia, poetry, racism, words

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Comments

  1. Hugzilla says

    August 27, 2016 at 6:04 pm

    Beautifully articulated, as always x

    Reply
    • Emily says

      August 29, 2016 at 9:36 pm

      Thank you, Mel. x

      Reply
  2. Denyse says

    August 27, 2016 at 7:40 pm

    Words so eloquently said which must be read & understood.. Thank you Emily.

    Reply
    • Emily says

      August 29, 2016 at 9:37 pm

      How lovely. You’re welcome, Denyse. x

      Reply
  3. Sammie @ The Annoyed Thyroid says

    August 28, 2016 at 8:53 am

    You said it. And so beautifully too. Thank you x

    Reply
    • Emily says

      August 29, 2016 at 9:37 pm

      Thanks Sammie. I wish I’d had the guts to publish this last year. x

      Reply
  4. Helen K says

    August 28, 2016 at 10:10 am

    So powerful Emily – wow. Sticks in my mind, this is going to be twisting around and around … Thank you for sharing!

    Reply
    • Emily says

      August 29, 2016 at 9:38 pm

      Thanks, Helen. Glad it spoke to you.

      Reply
  5. Cat says

    August 30, 2016 at 10:43 am

    Em
    you have said this far more eloquently than I did. I recently wrote a big long post about Australia’s dirty little secret of racism.
    Beautifully expressed.

    Reply
    • Emily says

      August 30, 2016 at 8:46 pm

      Thank you, Cat. Will head your way to see your big, long post!

      Reply

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Hi! I’m Emily

I parent. I write. I blog. I play with words and numbers in my head. Constantly. It's crowded in there.

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