I don’t hate you

          For your ignorance

I don’t hate you

          For your entrenched racism

I don’t even hate you

          For supporting government policies of cultural genocide
I don’t hate you, but…
I do want you to at least

          Embrace your own disfunction

          Acknowledge it

          And then analyse it–

          Just as you analyse me
Then I want you to

          Research it

          Observe it

          Write about it

          And then maybe even preach about it,

          Just as you do about me.
No, I don’t hate you, but…

          I do wonder about you sometimes
Canberra, 2004


This poem first appeared in I’m Not Racist, But…, Salt Publishing, 2004.