They say “western sydney”, what they mean is...

To the people who came before us, who made themselves at home
‘in the tensions of these geographies so we might make our way beyond them’…
(~Natalie Diaz)
 
 
They say “western sydney”, what they mean is...
 
                                                                                 Sign this and two forms of ID
Gods loosened continents, now we are here / giving disappearance a name we cannot
pronounce / we cannot refuse / here where visiting hours are short / and security
guards edit present into permanent intermission / an endless exit and entry / I mean
an administrative tyranny / everyday a different kind of paperwork.
 
                                                                                Leave all your belongings outside
They leave Damascus / leave Baghdad / leave Quetta / obedience burns our mouths /
we have pledged allegiance to a silence only found in English / we enter all disrepair and
casket shells / we enter as concerned community / good-intentioned volunteers / no—I
mean as patrons of the panopticon / the violent spectacle.
 
                                                                                        Biryani is not on the list
We bring a box of Ahmad tea / packets of roasted pumpkin seeds / empire’s sunset
trespasses the sky / calling us to concrete prayer rug / calling us to reinvent time / I
mean to archive / and bless this forehead back in between razor wire / the Australian
way of forgetting / I mean the Australian way of living.

                                                                                 You are not allowed in anymore
Absent them with city / paint over it all / flatten them with border and policy / citizen
us / call us mistake on the evening news / this syntax corrodes our flesh / this sin against
where we discovered a home / I mean, ‘discovered’ a home / because home is a fable is
a ghost is a lie / home is an obscenity we cannot mourn / because home is not a home / I
mean, they own us, too.