Amy Small-McKinney

Before the World Ends

I will put on shoes
with cork soles
carry him along our tree-
lined streets
he’ll be heavy
we will make it to the river
float in water not earth
not trench and stone
I want sun
in our mouths
as calm as seedcakes
him to drift beside me
into the night even when the gate
has shut behind us
time enough to become
two slight boats built
from paper bark
moored together
in parting

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Museum of the World, Aboriginal Australia/ Canoe Model, approximately 1851

Note: Very few aboriginal people remained in Tasmania due to effects of British colonization

British Museum 1 -2

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