I had no say in the place I was born
and the flag raised above the land I call home is just that
a flag
cotton
or nylon
or worse
with those same colours that flew
from the pirate ships
that stole sugar and tea and spices
and the very heads of indigenous peoples
their land called home for thousands of years
re-imagined as a profit-resource
by a group who
believed so whole-heartedly
in their supremacy
that they exported their beliefs
culture and ways
and implemented them savagely
under a red, white and blue banner
rich white men, bloated by corporate greed and wealth
and an obsession with cock-power
everything that is wrong with the world
over centuries built a world for themselves
on the bones
and the bodies
of dead peoples that they viewed as irrelevant
as less than human
and now
no
i’m not proud
of a people who talk of the poor
in derogatory terms
of the vulnerable, the sick and in-need
with derision
and point out that those worse off than themselves should
“get off their arses”
and
“pull their finger out”
and that look on those fleeing
in agony
war torn countries ruined by neo-colonialism
with suspicion
that maybe they come
to steal from this land
from this people
it’s a distortion of reality that is tied to our times
it’s a lie
that was sold to you with your morning coffee
by the same rich white men
that yeah
were doing this 500 years ago
and are still doing it
and you bought it
you bought the lie
and so no
i’m not proud
illustrated-self 