Telstra BigBlog -

Telstra BigBlog -: "Exclusion
I have been here before
watching change that comes
with growth of a suburb,
raised from plains of displacement
names of past inhabitants
perpetuated on streets and lanes
in overdue respect
for the traditional owners of this land
obligatory, as the honour speech
the offertory at each civic event
a flat toned monologue
that lacks sincerity
a vervbal eucalyptol smudge
that can never erase a history of exclusion

I return each decade
I leave, and return again
seeking the heart of the town
and my place within it
civic leaders speak of a brighter future,
the inclusion of minority groups,
of multiculturism, while
in the same breath
they plan the exclusion,
of present day social misfits
history repeats with lessons unlearned
urban outcasts set aside in another civic cleansing
of the brick veneer plains if progress

If I return in another time
will I find rejects of today
patronised, immortalised
on streets signs, and other places
to right past judgements
and will I hear homage paid
in deceptive ceremony
past discrimination and elimination
acknowledged and repented, while
in another part of the town
the unwanted and the unwell
are herded past its boundaries
and, when I am gone again
who will record the recidivism
of the ruling social order."