The broom-bristles-for-eyebrows neolith
hammers away at our enmeshed foundations,
ignoring centuries of same-sex promiscuities.
He's teamed up with God to decide what's natural and right,
hiding from the mardi-gras that leaves pride and defiance like litter in its wake.
He's been busy signing papers written by churchmen and businessmen
trying to forge the nuclear family into a steel display,
a sculpture arranged as the centrepiece of every lounge-room,
right in front of the TV with its insightful programs on gardening and shelves.
He's meddling in manufacturing,
applying that protective coating of zinc —
let not rain, hail or the increasingly hot sun
penetrate through corrugated gender roles
so that we women can proudly bake, clean and cover up bruises
like our mothers and grandmothers before us.
He busily solders old attitudes together so they will not rust
Oh to expose society to the corrosive properties of homosexual love!
The consequences of women deciding
they don't need dicks inside them to peak,
they don't need dicks around them to breed,
and they don't need dicks above them to work!
The consequences of men bonding with other men
outside of footy scrums and barbecues!
Of calloused hands caressing hard dicks and inserting them
into rings not purchased from jewellers!
Oh to be lured into equal relationships
and discussions about who bakes the bread or buys it!
He takes zinc tablets and jogs but he's overseeing a sickness
Casey's only 16 but knows two who've died
(one hung from rope in the carport, the other met cricket bats in the street).
She's in turmoil due to a dual crush on a boy with well-defined triceps
and a girl who wears miniskirts
and sits at her desk lazily spreading her legs.
"Love is love regardless of gender" —
she paints on a banner and galvanises those friends for whom
oppression and "dirty" affection have startled into activity.
The kisses they give each other are soft and hard
(depending on the passion at the time),
the hickeys show just as clearly
as those their married English teacher tries to hide,
and just yesterday two of them held hands
while walking through the Elizabeth Street mall.
[In response to the passing of the 2004 amendment to the Commonwealth Marriages Act denying same sex marriage rights.]
Susan Austin
From Green Left Weekly, December 7, 2005.
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