Poem
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Asylum
this month
we know now
what the body does
for the second time
falling
at eighty km an hour,
from a detention centre roof
new zealand offered
the certain precision
of razor wire
to bring them there
the crimson
of artery
to safety
we know the smell
of burning flesh
one hundred and fifty
survivors
and how greedily
a lighter flame
licks kerosene from skin
of the australian
detention regime
we know all this,
because we’ve done all this
sweet mercy,
set them free
_________
Lifeline 13 11 14
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on July 27, 2019 as "Asylum".
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