and we become (the thing that we denied) a refugee

Please read this powerful poem from Frank Prem. We may all be refugees soon:

Frank Prem Poetry

the thought I had
was a refugee

I’ve had these thoughts
before

once in a boat
upon the waters
wide

sometimes
as a thought
in the sky

but lately
I’ve been watching flame
licking at the leaves
on the trees

bringing darkness
when the sun
should shine

and I see photographs
in my newspapers

I see pictures
on the TV screen
of mamas
holding it together
the best way
that they can

of papas
crying

like the world’s gone
mad

and I count
the creatures
that aren’t where
they should be
and my thought
is just a prisoner
to the knowledge
that the world has changed

there’s no koala
there

there’s no blue-tongue

no wombat and
no kangaroo

I can’t see
a magpie

the kookaburra
isn’t laughing

no brown snake
or tiger

where is
the fairy wren

the wood ducks I remember
as a score

are there any left
I…

View original post 140 more words

10 thoughts on “and we become (the thing that we denied) a refugee

  1. Hi Kim.

    Thank you for sharing this poem. It is the piece – the idea and thought – that started me on this current writing endeavour focused on the fires here in Australia and their impact on myself and other folk like me.

    This country has spent more than a decade focused determinedly on letting refugees from other countries arrive in Australia on rickety boats, crossing dangerous seas.

    We have become a poster-child for border protectionism.

    Now, today, we have Australians fleeing their homes with nothing more than what they are standing up in. There are whole regions that will likely prove uninhabitable or uninsurable or just plain unavailable . Not to mention the utter destruction of the land and its future that will remain in the aftermath.

    I find it bitterly a ironical outcome.

    We are become a nation of refugees within its own borders, and in the end, we reap what we sow.

    Thank you, again for sharing this.

    If any of your readers wishes to donate to the recovery, the place I am directing traffic to is here: https://www.vic.gov.au/bushfireappeal

    I am hoping to create a small personal reward in the form of some audio poetry for anyone donating, so if they get in touch with a receipt reference, I’ll include them when I am ready to go.

    Sorry for taking over the post like this.

    Thank you, again,

    Frank

    Liked by 1 person

        1. I know the feeling…..

          BTW, should the sentence below have a negative in it. It appears to contradict the sentence after it? Or am I being thick this mornng?

          “This country has spent more than a decade focused determinedly on letting refugees from other countries arrive in Australia on rickety boats, crossing dangerous seas.”

          Like

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