Absence and Antinomy, v3

[RiverNotch]

Absence and Antinomy


I cannot say which system is the worse.
Across the Pacific, what signs that the pot changed hands
only through conscious study signify:

most place names are overfamiliar, 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

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 is simply no sign that the pot
was ever owned by someone else: most places

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

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.