Dark Unmarried Mothers / Oodgeroo Noonuccal

All about the country,
From earliest teens,
Dark unmarried mothers,
Fair game for lechers —
Bosses and station hands,
And in town and city
Low-grade animals
Prowl for safe prey.
Nothing done about it,
No one to protect them —
But hush, you mustn't say so,
Bad taste or something
To challenge the accepted,
Disturbing the established.
Turn the blind eye,
Wash the hands like Pilate.

Consent? Even with consent
It is still seduction.
Is it a white girl?
Then court case and headline
Stern talk of maintenance.
Is it a dark girl?
Then safe immunity;
He takes what he wants

And walks off like a dog.
Was ever even one,
One of all the thousands
Ever made responsible?
For dark unmarried mothers
The law does not run.
No blame for the guilty
But blame uttered only
For anyone made angry
Who dares even mention it,
Challenging old usage,
Established, accepted
And therefore condoned.
Shrug away the problem,
The shame, the injustice;
Turn the blind eye,
Wash the hands like Pilate.

Note: Oodgeroo Noonuccal (formerly Kath Walker) was one of the most progressive and well respected poets of Australia. Her advocacy for Indigenous welfare reflected in her poetic form as she wrote from her perspective as an Aboriginal Australian woman.