Hands up

if you watch the news every night

and can’t decide between

fight or flight

or might is right

Hands up everybody

and wave them in the air

like you just care

He told me my bro

leave this earth

better than at your birth

when you go

so I look at these hands

two brown hands

One day

I heard my Mum say

my name Sukhjit

it means winner of peace

so I thought I had to be a

political feature

spiritual feature

anything but this hairy legged creature

but then I saw the hands

My big sister said to me

hold my hand, bhain, baby

and look with me

when you gaze at this country

what do you see

do you see stats or spirits

do you see boundless plains or borders

when you gaze at the stars

do you see southern crosses or seven sisters

My hands have hope

so don’t protect me

from the world Papa

my hands like yours

are for working Papa

come build with me

an empire of empathy

Friends hold my hand

and walk the streets with me

do you see the superheroes

everyday white black and grey

curly and straight

giving their time of day

laughing and having their say

teaching their kids like I’ll teach mine

to tend and mend and spend the time with

another

caus a stranger is not always danger

so wave those hands

wave hello

shake those hands

shake em off yo

Use those hands to touch

not type

or like

or emoji wink

“you’re alright”

you’ll feel the love and compassion no text can provide

take a stand hands

they’re yours

I might be the wordsmith

but with your applause

action this poetry and find your cause

join this girl from Perth

on a mission to leave this earth

better than we found it

at our birth.