BECAUSE OF HER, WE CAN - highlighting the poetry of Australian First Nations women
We're celebrating NAIDOC week by sharing poetry from some of the amazing First Nations women that we've been privileged to work with over the years.
We recommend starting with the Red Room commissioned poems below and then seeking out their other published works and events.
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K1: Yellomundee
By Evelyn AraluenBeyond your stage
the audience murmur
men and women weep
and silk their skin bare, -
The Bird Cage
By Ali Cobby Eckermannthe clang of the door was the first
beat of a new song
pitter patters of bird feet echoed
along the empty concrete paths -
Longing, Wanting
By Stiff GinsLonging, Wanting
My edge, a blade
Slice through air, slice through air
No breath, no rain -
Yeperenye notes
By Yvette Holtlast night, by the falling waistcoat
of a half-caste desert moon
discreetly, deliberately
i heel away from somnolent flutes -
The Gatherers
By Jeanine Leane~ Wiradjuri interpretations provided by Aunty Elaine Lomas
Gunhinarrung learnt to gather – map Country
with little feet as morning’s pink horizons bring heat -
Arms of a friend
By Carissa Lee GodwinFor Monterey Cypress
Origin: Mexico, South America
How many hearts have broken beneath your arms -
Spirit Remains
By Lorna MunroI am as old as time
I am fluid like spoken rhyme
I am still here, even if you refuse to listen to my lesson
I am wise beyond my years, though I wear the clothes of an adolescent -
Mother's Lost Song
By Maureen O'KeefeMothers has disappeared never to be sung again. So who will sing mothers song this song
is ancient as the land itself. Mothers song has disappeared like a whisper in the wind.
Through sands of time this song echoed through a thousand years. It’s to me but a fading
memory but I still hear her singing in the wind. Her singing echoing through the des… -
For The Young
By Celestine RoweIt’s time for our young people to rise
Take the fight laid before us
Let’s rise to the challenges
We fight against depression, oppression, suicide -
Blak-out
By Brenda SaundersSista' girl need money to get home Native title
case Big time! she raps edgy
Some story -
Mother
By Kirli SaundersMother,
I’ve spent hours now
searching for myself
in the symmetry of your skin -
Oyster Shell Necklace
By Ellen van NeervenI didn’t fill the bay
or make the rocks
I didn’t.
Hear Tassie’s haunted
Featured Theme
Read more First Nations poetry here
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With Change
By Aurora Liddle-ChristieThe land is crying for us to care
care that blood waters its soil more than rain
The seasons have shifted, but humanity stays the same
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Mother
By Kirli SaundersMother,
I’ve spent hours now
searching for myself
in the symmetry of your skin -