for Sisto and others unknown
Yesterday, our ordinary was brave.
Before guns and sirens
Before the cloaking of
grey pavement with
blooming scents
Our ordinary was there, and boy was it brave!
Our shopping trolleys, our chairs,
our arms, our chests. We scavenged
like ravens – whatever it took – to
reclaim streets still learning to
bear scars of ugly synonyms
And I too, owe bravery to the ordinary
to once soaring ravens
now lying perfectly still
to families facing
the first of many
Hanukahs and Diwalis
Christmases and Eids
stained by before and after
by never the same again
Bourke Street or Myanmar
Nauru or Sandy Hook
everywhere is a frontline
and so everyone must stand
for the trolley and the chairs
for the arms and the chests
and whatever it takes
for our stilled ravens
to soar again.
