Stains & Vultures

Kula-lee McKeon

Stains

the weight of the world
                                                hangs
                                                                 heavy
Cruelty
                   stains
                                    the
                                                      soul.

I have no choice but to

keep clean

keeping clean

ain't easy

not when our black men die in custody

our women and children - martyrs

the familiar stain of cruelty

marks us All

I scrub

hot water

skin red

raw.

Vultures

body aches

body shakes

make no mistake

the wait

to participate

no expiry date

65 Thousand Years

how long we've been Here

and you think I care?

Bout white 'culture'

violent vultures

they follow us

chase us

ultimately trying to erase us

they think they'll win

it's written on their racist grins

to them we're just black bodies

targets for their racist hobbies

stealing, lynching, murder on high tide

white sails fuelled by genocide

violent vultures

Kula-lee McKeon is a proud Nyul Nyul woman living and writing on Whadjuk Boodjar for almost a decade. Hailing from Broome, where she spent the majority of her life, Kula-lee writes from her experiences, her feelings and her truth. An avid reader in her youth, she harnesses her love of reading, words and her culture into writing and storytelling.