An Australian

An extra brother
was found post-mortem,
their mother lay shunted
on a locked-in gurney;
and so the drawer-hunt
was left, aborted,

stopped by finding
of an unknown’s journey;
‘the solution back then’
export the rebus,
her secret posted
to an empire – still burning.

Their mother outlived him
with her feelings,
in the found letter,
a secret hard blow:
‘He carked it,’ it said,
‘Tyres ripped, squealing.’

And that was all
to ever know:
A sibling departed
twice before them,
a brother, shipped,
sent a time ago:

Do not seek history,
do not go again,
that is the cruelty
put on women.

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