Poem
Maxine Beneba Clarke
The Gospel of Peter
a poem constructed from the words of Peter Dutton
african gangs have taken over the streets,
melburnians are afraid to go out to eat
and asylum seekers are having
anchor babies … armed with pro bono lawyers
trying to leverage migration
meanwhile
a hardened criminal population
occupies the detention centre
on christmas island
and
people who need medical services will be displaced:
australians who are in waiting lines
nauru rape survivors, begging for abortions, they’re
trying it on … [until] they step off the plane
and climate protesters
should be jailed, until their behaviour changes
take their photos and names,
let their families know
shame them
there is the gospel
as peter proclaimed it
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on October 12, 2019 as "The Gospel of Peter".
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