Absence and Antinomy, v3

[busker]

Absence and Antinomy


I cannot say which system is the worse.
In America, there is simply no sign that the pot
was ever owned by someone else: most places ... as others have noted, this is simply not true. Idaho, Iowa, Dakota, Kansas et al vs New South Wales, Queensland, etc.

have names that have grown too familiar, most passing faces
are white or black or even my shape and color,
and there are no honors---no monuments nor exhibits

outside of museums---afforded to their first nations,
while in Australia a heritage more diverse
is championed by place names more byzantine, statues in public ... I understand that you're trying to say 'many-syllabled / bizarre / long', and 'byzantine' does the trick, though it left me                                                                                                  wondering whether we're being fair to the Greeks

more angular, murals more nonrealistic, and beggars
more universally dark, squat, and ragged.
Is it better to suffer such contradiction
or to be so thoroughly forgotten?

I cannot say which system is the worse.
In America, there was simply no sign that the pot
was ever owned by someone else: most places

had names in the tongues of their conquerors, most faces
were white or black or even my shape and color,
and there were no honors---no monuments nor exhibits

outside of museums---afforded to their first nations,
while in Australia a heritage more diverse
is championed by place names more byzantine, statues in public

more angular, murals more nonrealistic, and beggars
more universally dark, squat, and ragged.
Is it better to suffer such contradiction
or to be so thoroughly forgotten?

Another NaPM entry.

Hi River - the central premise of your poem falls flat, so the payoff isn't really there. Both countries have been genocidal exemplars, but I think America has treated its native culture with more respect than Australia - except very recently, and that too because of legislative changes that have been forced through on a mildly resentful public not too dissimilar to large chunks of the MAGA base. There is no hat tipping in the manner of the Atlanta Braves either. The aboriginal is pitied and condescended upon, never respected.