All Lies on Rafah
by Sachi Chivers, Yarra Valley Grammar
Winner, Years 11 – 12, written poetry
The side of a milk carton. Sweating,
with condensation, left two days over, gone bad.
Milk cartons should have missing posters again –
so many valuable assets lost without regard,
swept under the rug, scrolled away, flattened.
Confrontation does not engage the blank mind.
The side of a milk carton could read –
Missing: empathy.
Decimation crawls through the stolen land,
apathy through the fortunate hand,
a kitchen table standing fractured, exposed,
a bleeding keffiyeh under the tread,
Clasping, Gasping, Rasping, Fasting.
Neutrality deemed a just belief.
The side of a milk carton should read –
Missing: sonder.
But if our human-ities were searched for
on the side of a milk carton, what then
separates intangible virtues from another
Consumable Item? To have or not to have?
To reduce the complexities of being a person,
akin to razing a people, but never reminiscent of their suffering.
The final act of hypocrisy.
The side of a milk carton must read –
Missing: rage.
Written word; spoken, heard, published,
but not listened to. A blind eye was never
so observant, and the clouded conscience acquiesces.
But my way of life! the herd pouts, unwilling
to even create an independent mind to speak for.
Blood spills so vehemently that numbness grows –
a disease borne of taking it all for granted.
Geographical luck is not unrelatable difference.
The front of a milk carton will read –
Missing: humanity.
Want to read more poems? Explore the other Years 11 – 12 finalists.