Paperbark tree

By Mylène Charon

Paperbark tree
They had no idea

I came from France
            she came from Colombia
We found ourselves in this community
            dry as the Tanami

She got ink from China
I said
            Draw close to the heart
            That’s where she sits                                Oodgeroo Noonuccal 
On our bunkbeds                                                                                              
            in our donga

Broken over and over again
            lines hurt 
She held the needles
            She held the pen

I feel them
            Leaves
Release them
            Pain 

This poem is a public submission created for Red Room Poetry's New Shoots digital poetry anthology.