The many layers here are real and palpable, Bill. Thank you for the piece.
Very delicately rendered. Sheila
On Tue, Nov 12, 2019 at 1:10 PM Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> How could I have known
>
> that this shirt,
>
> dark and unremarkable,
>
> would outlive the Timorese boy
>
> who said Cool Shirt, Sir,
>
> ten years ago
>
> when I wore it for the first time
>
> into the High Achievers
>
> Year 8 class
>
> at Resa High?
>
>
> It took Facebook
>
> to tell me that JJ
>
> had drowned,
>
> years after leaving school,
>
> having established himself
>
> as a lively rap performer.
>
>
> His older sister Tina,
>
> electing to ‘do an oral’
>
> on the contentious issue
>
> of refugee boat arrivals,
>
> had deftly leaned the lectern to the floor,
>
> sat astride the stand
>
> and mock rowed throughout
>
> her presentation.
>
>
> The shirt is faded and frayed,
>
> one slight tear in the pocket
>
> but still fit for gardening.
>
> Is it, I recall JJ asking,
>
> when it came time for him
>
> to do his oral,
>
> OK to sing it?
>
>
> My word it was.
>
>
> bw
>
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