Poor me
don’t know how it happened
think I got
a non-Indigenous girlfriend
who thinks she’s an expert
don’t know how she’s got her expertise
think I’m the first one she’s met
yet
she tells me I’m closed to other sides of the debate
that she has the answers because she saw a television ad
for Recognition
and though most Indigenous Australians are opposed
she says it’s for our good
talks about drunks and sexual abuse ‘up north’
devalues my own knowledge (too urban)
and anything I get from black media
(not the whole truth
I wouldn’t trust it)
she likes to argue when she’s had a few
13 times more
her voice loud
(87%) of intimate partner homicides
fresh tears on my face
involving Indigenous people, are alcohol related
she’s drunk, I tell the booliman
still shaking. Sitting on the steps.
no, I haven’t had any
won’t let her forget this statistic
tonight it’s her
in the paddy wagon
Read the rest of Overland 223
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