Doppelgänger Across Lands
Do you think we look like strangers?
we are apart, yet we are together.
when you sit on the couch and fold your right
arm across your left
so do I.
in your face I see my smile
in your laugh I hear my sardonic voice
the one that surfaces when we see something
on television
like when Dutton announcing a new policy
of exclusion
Yet how can we look alike when you are
more Neanderthal than I?
But people say we look the same
even though you are from the Iberian peninsular
and I am HAPLO M
in West Asia we didn’t share a common ancestor
you don’t have the Mongolian spot common
to those with distant relatives who do not eat pork
Still, we may share mitochondrial DNA
many great, great, great grandmothers ago.
Our ancestors sat together in caves
before scattering during the bronze age
for greener pastures
the silk road was not always wide.
We have never been strangers.
‘Emily Sun’ lives and works on the unceded lands of the Wadjuk Noongar people (Perth, Western Australia). Her works have been published in various anthologies and journals including
Meanjin, Cordite Poetry Review, APJ, Mascara, and
Growing up Asian in Australia.
Her debut poetry collection
Vociferate 詠 (Fremantle Press) was listed as one of the
Australian Book Review’s Books of the Year in 2021, was Highly Commended in the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, and was shortlisted in the Western Australia Premier’s Book Award in 2022. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Western Australia, where she is working on a historical fiction project. Emily is the co-editor/publisher of
Hello Keanu! A Poetry Anthology (2024).
https://iamemilysun.com/
