Westfield Chermy is one of our sacred sites / ehh gammin! / my grandparents came to Chermy in the early 50s / they had a house on Fee St / where my mother and her siblings grew up / they moved there after the two older children were born in Wacol / Mum was the second born in Fee St.
The shopping centre first opened in 1957 / Chermside Drive-in Shopping Centre / now it’s the largest single-level shopping centre in Australia / it expanded / and expanded / expanded / over years.
Mum remembers / an oval surrounded by bush / swimming pool in the middle.
On the weekends she and her brothers and sisters had the choice / go to the pool / or the cinema / The Dawn opened in 1928 / shut in 2005 / the last single-screen cinema in Brisbane.
Round Chermy everything’s changed / some parts unrecognisable / but the houses near Fee St / a pocket has stayed the same / the same old little houses.
On Fee St all the families’ kids played together / their names / Aunty will know.
The bush was all open / could walk to the bush through to Geebung and Aspley / to see friends / go to school / Geebung primary / all you had to worry about were snakes / never wore shoes.
Geebung / camp / amongst the trees / and geebung groves / the roads are old roads.
Nanny’s warm arm / against mine / Mum and Nanny touching / by the bickie shop / next to the butcher’s / strong deadly women / ready to / take on Chermy at peak hour / on a Saturday morning.
Pride of knowing where every shop is / always notice a new one coming up / know the specials / keep the vouchers / push Nanny on the motor scooter / push Nanny along / save for Christmas / the decorations are different each year / push Nanny up the hill / tell your cousin you’re coming over / spend four hours looking for an outfit / go to Best&Less get some undies / Nanny always bought you Bonds / said those girls need the best / keep the docket / see if it fits.
Each year our bodies change / we get older in changing rooms / we try to fit into jeans and schools that know our black / mothers / just trying to fit in / Chermy is always home.
New swimmers / birthdays at the pool / the cinemas make us cry sometimes.
My mum will kill me true / if I don’t separate my recycling / before I leave the food court / my brother is up / playing pinball / he refuses to give me his tokens / and lollies / he will be saving them / for weeks.
Westfield sacred to us / women are the gatherers / make our houses safe / make our families safe / my mum, grandmother, Aunties took care of me good / I never had to worry about anything much / protected us when we were little / we were jahjams / now we can with greater ease / make our own mistakes.
Aunty buys me Belgian chocolates and Christmas cake every year / we buy stuff / we need stuff / we were starving when we walked up Meemar St / the hot grass / over the fence / Aunty made us sandwich / and cuppa / black / always black.
Carried over shelves / and into tills / by the tide / I have had buyer’s regret / and I have also experienced lust / for t-shirts / I will always remember / that never went on sale.
We get excited the flasher it gets / we are proud of our Chermy / there has been so much change / and we are weary.
Haven’t ever been inside Fee St / have just been carried into the stories / stood outside / since I was born.
Ask your Aunty / she’s the youngest / is your memory going? / that’s what your father says.
Best house on the street / sitting on the back steps / eating ice-cream / Hah! / and sitting on the windowsill eating an ice-block in the school holidays / long time ago!
The tree covers the house / now I don’t know where to go / now
Aunty says / couldn’t get me off the dunny / always reading Animorphs / one day I’ll see small circles in the sky / the aliens will arrive / in what’s left of the forest / a small bit of park / compared to what it was / kidspace / a cricket ground / the grass where we took Max to puppy pre-school and he got his certificate into dog adulthood / one day the aliens will arrive / I will show my new alien lover Westfield Chermside / tell her that it is sacred and it must not be harmed / that inside are shiny things / delicate pathways / like the slight slope up to Coles / with the warm popcorn scent / all the exits of Myer / I will show my new alien lover and she will understand / my love for Chermy / you haven’t lived life on earth until you’ve been to Harris Scarfe / and seen their prices on bras! / the brand Serena Williams likes / and met my family / my fam are pretty deadly / I want you to meet them / maybe at the Chinese restaurant / or has it closed / closing? / closed / and we’ll hold hands to / the bus interchange / catch the 333.
Chermy shopping centre is one of our sacred sites / gammin!
Called these days / a major suburb / a new cbd / the first Apple store / have you seen the new food court / we haven’t really started buying online.
We get excited the flasher it gets / we are proud of our Chermy / there has been so much change / and we are weary.
1867 / in the Gympie gold rush / settler-invaders got stuck going north / on way to the goldfields / found trouble in the creek / Downfall Creek.
The rain / don’t feel like rain / when you’re running from the car park / to the entrance / summer storms / sometimes cause puddles on the floor / Aunty tells me not to slip outside the book store / reminds me I’m wearing thongs / two sizes too big.
Water birds / always birds / still / follow the water / and large mobs of lorikeets get drunk / every night outside Chermy / like teenagers.
From the park / across from Aunty’s place / you can see the church / the Prince Charles Hospital / and the best sunsets.
I jogged here / I swam here / like Nanny and Mum and Aunty I also lived here / my place in Chermside / during uni / on Kingsmill St / opposite the library / they knocked my block down / to build high-rise / Aunty walks past / keeps an eye out for me.
Chermy is rising / going up in the world / rising.
At Downfall Creek the whitefellas are falling / falling / and we are rising / rising / to the air space / to the sky.
