So thrilled to be part of the Melbourne City of Literature’s Poet Laureate that is happening all year. You can read the poem HERE and sign up to read all the others for the year!
From the Mouth of a Non-Problematic Statue in Australia
‘And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things…’
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias
You would think there
would be more of us
single digits for:
Indigenous Australians
women
persons with disability
LGBTIQA+
or any BIPOC
in bronze or stone
or granite or marble
or plaster or concrete
after all—it is
the imprint
of one epoch
onto another
We’ve been constructed
by those with power
hierarchies of culture
deciding who gets tenure
you might see me
tucked in a corner of a park
might be on your Bingo card—
you have to know where to look
some of us have
been protested
how come they get a statue?
as if we are other
Until now:
colonial
imperial
racist
wealthy
erections
have not been
questioned enough
symbols of division
sculptures of rifts
frozen
in time
don’t touch our history
as if history is
only carved in
stone
where will it end?
as if it should begin
with pain
not all statues
a difference between
those who have flaws
and those who are elevated
by the weight of their shame
we need to protect them
but not listen
or change?
So much brightness
and depth
left out
(even Greek and Roman
statues were polychrome—
their colour peeled off
and forgotten)
examine everything
you have my permission
to put some in museums
keep others in galleries
create art around them
for context
or let them go
at least
get them off a pedestal