Poetry
No Humans Minimalized
An Ideas Stream Poetry Salvage
Hop on boys, guns in your hands, you can measure it later, the size of your glands, It’s the fucking ride of your life, a campaign for dicks, Ridin’ on horses, or on bunnies, with whips.
We’ll meet truckers, cross country, screamin’ for blood, Whilst the capital burns, they’re just pullin’ the rug, From under the brothers and sisters as they weep, The police with guns, ride over bones in their jeeps.
The buildings you’re looting, they’re just full of crap Society’s way of holding you back, Keep rioting, protesting, keepin’ it real, Screamin’ “yeehaw” and “fuck you,” you know the deal.
Because the blokes of fair skin with their sausage in their buns, Need a big dose of chaos, and to be rid of their guns. No peace will happen unless they’re melted down Into lumps of garden sculpture or decorative clowns.
The picture we want, the beautiful scene? No humans minimalized, grass should be green. No one treated lesser, because of their skin, Because all our blood is red, and the skin is thin.
How hard is it really, to treat folks with respect, To have empathy, understanding, not think they’re suspect? If knowledge is power, then why is it so, We have toddlers as leaders? They need to fucking go.
The death of a person at the hand of another is terrible, tragic. For those countries/states who still have capital punishment, they seem to be able to justify the death of another at their hands through the law. It still doesn’t make it right. When a death occurs at the hand of groups who are supposed to protect a population, then the balance is out. Why should one group of citizens feel less safe, less protected, of less worth? I come from Australia, a country where the indigenous population has been systematically decimated since the first European (white) settlement in the late 1700s. Aboriginal deaths in custody is something I have heard about my whole life. More Aboriginal people die and have died in police custody than any other group. Yet, from the 2016 census in Australia, 2.8% of the population identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. In 1991, the Australian Government’s Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody revealed their findings after investigating 99 deaths in custody between 1980 and 1989. Since this report, over 400 Aboriginal Australians have died in custody. And only 2–3% of the total population (currently 25 million). Essentially, the report has failed to save lives. Yes, it gave insight (perhaps), into reasons why the deaths occurred. It also led to an investigation into why there is a disproportionate number of Aboriginal Australians incarcerated. Has this investigation decreased the number in prisons? No.
Our world is built on the oppression of others. I recently read Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens. He very bluntly points out that humans are excellent at both telling stories and killing. It’s how Homo Sapiens have dominated over other humanoid species. The world as we know it is built on using others to gain wealth, land, wealth, resources, wealth. Yes, I wrote ‘wealth’ three times! History (not her-story or their-story!) is filled with amazing/horrifying/brutal examples of mass extermination of Indigenous populations, exploitation of people to gain more wealth, power, influence. It’s kind of disgusting. And many still haven’t changed their mindset. They still see certain people as inferior or lesser. Seeing themselves as superior, better, greater. And it’s causing deaths. On a regular basis. Whether it be at the hands of police or because certain groups are more vulnerable to catching COVID-19 because of who they are and their living conditions.
I don’t have any solutions, sadly. But sharing the experiences of those who have been discriminated against is vitally important. It builds knowledge. It can create empathy.
This went in a direction I wasn’t quite expecting. Sometimes that happens. Very often, The Dark Gourd’s poetry salvage does this to me. I see a group of words and thoughts start pouring out. I am eternally grateful for the constant stream of inspiration ❤
Poetry Salvage/ Word Salad
Use as many of these words as you can in a poem, story, or article!
fucking / bunny / campaign/ truckers/ cross/ country / screamin’ / yeehaw / sisters / brothers/ guns/ capital / buildings/ looting/ police / society/ rioting/ guns / buns / sausage / chaos / minimalized / humans/ strike / back.
Some more reading:
- this Guardian article, highlighting the similarities in deaths in custody between the US and Australia.
- this article by Amy Squire about the lack of empathy in Australia for their own black deaths in custody.
- this one by Celeste Liddle on Invasion Day in Australia
~thanks for reading~
Lisa is a teacher, writer, poet, lyricist, mother, lover, partner, daughter, sister, avid reader, creative, brave soul. If you’d like to keep in touch, please visit Northern Notes.