I still call Australia home
but where the bloody hell am I?

A place of slip slop
slap in our safe, safe schools

A country where the larrikins play
but the rest play by the rules

A country eager to stop boats
but not leaks

A parliament where women are knocked out, knocked up
or still knocking at the door

A country more preoccupied by onions
than by unions

A land that isn’t mine,
yet is mined

Where the bloody hell is my country
I may be a woman, but I am not a bird
None of us can simply fly home

Rosalind Moran

 

Rosalind Moran has written for anthologies, websites, and journals including Meanjin, Overland, The Lifted Brow, BroadAgenda, and The Australian Multilingual Writing Project, among others. She received a Highly Commended in the 2019 June Shenfield Poetry Award and is a co-founder of Cicerone Journal. @RosalindCMoran

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