In Support of the Indigenous Community at the Boorloo Invasion Day Rally Who Were 'Allegedly' (legal/press jargon) Attacked, and in Support of All Indigenous Peoples

Sidestepping

 

Outside the GPO,

Boorloo/Perth.

Midday.

 

Who wants to call

a meeting space

‘Forrest Place’?

 

Site of non-violent

resistance

to settler

thinking.

 

Invasion Day gathering

to affirm the rights

and spirit

of First Nations people.

 

I cross the overpass

from the railway

station, descend

the escalator

 

and walk adjacent

to where, a week ago,

the attacker threw

an improvised

 

explosive device

encased in a Disney sock —

into the heart

of the crowd.

 

Racist nationalism

is the slow emergence

of cause while

continuing its effect.

 

The unexploded

that reaches

and keeps reaching

for casualties,

 

for aftershocks.

Walking adjacent

I try not to sidestep

the distress.

 

 

            John Kinsella