Ships in the night, and: Triangulating

1

First Fleet broughtsome freedmen. JohnJohnstone was notone of them.a British ex-seamanwho was Blackwhose blood andthe ocean broughthim somewhere back.

in 1838 he gonehanged because hemassacred Myall Creek—my freshwaterneighboursnear the namaay. I

don't think itmeans anything, andit definitely doesn'tmean that, butmaybe it meanssomething. his futilename sluice throughmy head—takes ourunsteady allegiance downthis very old street.

2

who can know?

our heavy stepstogether. "Whose LivesMatter?" "Black LivesMatter!" is not withoutsome awkwardness. "WhoseBlack Lives Matter?"

on Turtle Island, anotherpolice killing. here, anotherdeath in custody. "What elsematters?" "When bla(c)klives don't talkto each other!"allegiances, enemies, shipsin the night with JohnJohnstone and us on them.

those ships inthe night didthis to us.

we cannot passquiet—our currentsgone an' wove.

3

US videography got,at least, attention.

Ms Dhu's familysaw that andasked the Coronerto pass herson. y'know, shakycameras tremble wherethere's life. gosteady when it'sdried out. she'slimp under theheadlines. prison CCTVdoesn't move so itdon't move our attention.

until a shaky camanother island polesaway. moves uslike it's the NYPDguarding us now.the event page saidFocus on the U.S.

NSW police clasptheir hands at crotchlevel. their horses urgeus on. blak to blackwe stand, pressed.

4

walking to some tower    symbolsignificant to neitherof us.

5

i clap hard forthe blak speakers.

you clap hard forthe black speakers.

we nod asolemn ritual, spokesomething about lovingourselves. "We arebeautiful!" [CHEERS]

You are beautiful.

I know how tolove myself. Iwant to knowwhen to clap hardfor you. BeforeI figure it out, ourtwo steams part.

6

Gary Foley in aBlack Panther beretin 1971. Atthat Tent Embassyand against apartheid.

he holds asign: Pardon mefor being borninto a nationof racists! Wewince—"Pardon me,excuse me."—thewhole walkhome. Pardonme, I'm just—borning it now.

Triangulating

whose languid spit curls around the bay?a string, a lip. at the rump, a lip. an exchangeto spiral mutual on a cultural more—a gammonone. a mouth eat you and me. I'm umami blakyou sweet or salty black. we both bitter. thelanguid spit loops back, repulsed. somewhere we lay.

around whose bay? the curls spit languidlip an exchange—a string, a rump. at the lip amutual gammon, to more on a spiral. a culturalumami, a blak one. i'm a you and me—eat! mouthyou sweet. both black the salty or bitter. weloops we back, spit somewhere. lay languid, repulsed.

curls whose around the spit bay languidat the lip, a lip. exchange a string. a rump an'a more. gammon cultural spiral on to a mutualeat. you a mouth and me umami. one blak. I'mthe you, we black. both bitter sweet. salty, orsomewhere languid? repulsed. lay back loops. we spit.