Stefanie Bennett- A Poem

Stefanie Bennett has published several volumes of poetry & worked with Arts

Action for Peace. Of mixed ancestry [Italian/Irish/Paugussett-Shawnee] she

was born in North Queensland, Australia.

 

 

 

THE BRANCH      

 

How to address the hollowness

That looks out

From an old friend’s eyes?

 

Much is demanded of the observer

- Far more than the one

Salvaging the desire.

 

Affiliations are catching. Just search

Your pockets; you’ll find

                                     Smoke

But – there’ll be no fire!

 

Most of us are in this state

Of rehabilitation, constantly

Meeting another’s danse macabre...

 

People of the earth – there is

A conspiracy to keep us

Leaning away from ourselves:

 

Believe in the universal petition. Learn

To look into a cripple’s eyes

And say... I know you!

 

 

 

(‘The Branch’ appears in “First Refuge” Poems

on Social Justice Anthology, Ginninderra Press)