Kit Kelen #512 - only a treaty OR how to have a home

512

only a treaty

or

how to have a home

(notes towards a villanelle)

only a treaty begins to redress

the silence we were

we have been till now

only a treaty begins to redress

the voicelessness

the lie

the fact of my having this address

the colours in the skin

and the colours on the map

surely that's a conversation

we have to begin?

darkness we've done to be us

and to them

only a treaty begins to redress

my dreaming and yours

and where do we meet?

every animal's in this

the past is the pile of us

acknowledge the wreck

file the collision report

then the party aggrieved

can begin to collect

wouldn't that be

what law's for?

only a treaty begins to redress

sins fathers and mothers

could never confess

if you want to live the country

you'll have to be every animal of it

only a treaty begins to redress

the damage of those who couldn't care less

listen up sisters and brothers

there's no one else to do the job

know – we are the energy for this!

the damage of shoes in a wilderness

the shame we've hidden from the world

from ourselves

the worlds we've hidden as well

the dreaming

only treaty can tell

the truth before pants

truth that is after

truth we make now

is judgement upon us

only a treaty begins to redress

the risk of going on

just as we've come

digging a deeper hole

there isn't a re-set button

but we need a new Year Dot

only a treaty begins to redress

the voicelessness

the lie

fact of my having an address

it's always been the time to speak

so the time is now

every clock strikes

at our failure

we have to be able

to begin to bless

our country

and

each

other