the real parties are over on the brown side

(west of the city, part II)


not exclusively
bt still / when school lets out
the white people / mostly
head to yarraville / where
working class hz been “reclaimed”
by friends of the earth
& collectives / so named
certifiably organic fruit & veg
fair-trade coffee shops / with
home-made vegan banana bread
when it is a white ghetto
it hz been gentrified / when
it’s a brown ghetto / it is
disadvantaged
*sigh*

bt the real parties
good food / & folks
who dance undrunk
happen over / on the brown side
i say / bring yarraville over here to us
& we will show them
who their neighbours are
& what the real ghetto-gentry does
turn the music up
& hoist me to the goddamn fence
cut the quiet monday night / i
am gonna boom-box our other-side friends
jungle-beat those sub-woofers
to the maribyrnong sky / sisters
we are gonna decolonise
the airways / over
geelong road / tonight

cz history speaks
of berlin & palestine
bt in this country
suburban highways
cn be race dividing lines:
vicious voting clusters
for anti-immigration lies

to some where you live
is not where you are
bt who you are / it
is sad / i know / bt true
& one suburb over
an extra hundred thou
cn ensure the neighbour’s hue

bt we run fast
& there is no escaping that
there is no escaping that
there is no escaping / that
no matter what suburb
in no matter what city
west of the city
always gets a bad rap