statistics show bruises

there have been others

who weren’t white
or lovely looking
didn’t have a good job
or couldn’t speak english

there were others without

a grieving husband
or 'respectable' family
to put on tv

just last year
for several days
a young black man was disappeared
i forget his name
roughed up by cops in flemington
his body surfaced
crushed and bruised
on the yarra
- or was it the maribyrnong -
banks

remember liep gony

he was
stabbed to death while riding home
a kid coming back
from his fast food job
on just another ordinary day

at the time
the immigration minister said
these sudanese
have a real problem
with integration

back in june
a taxi driver was attacked
driving somebody – he thought –
safely from the melbourne night

was told go home
in no uncertain terms
with multiple baseball bats

and those women
over there / marching the streets
well / statistics show bruises
beneath their own sleeves

instead of crying
about a beautiful stranger
abducted / from
a familiar street

we all should be asking
how could it not have come
to this