Poems
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Whale Medicine
By Kaitlen WellingtonBurri burri yanggum, burri burri gali, burri burri miru
I always was, I always am, I always will be
Close your eyes and listen
yindi ngaa goori, yindi ngara mubera -
Whale Song
By Barbara NicholsonMuch have I known of this sea-green world
from fathomable depths of deepest emerald
to the break beyond the limey shallows
where silvery beams from a waxing moon -
This is Wrong Way by Lore
By Kerry Bulloojeeno Archibald MoranShe white fella wanted to take me
To jaagi maam sacred site's on wajaarr country
A place of muluurr blood, galaagarrbili sweat and budii tears
This invitation I did not mangga-bayila plan -
Takayna; Milaythina Ningi
By Theresa SaintyTAKAYNA; MILAYTHINA NINGI
(Takayna; Mother Country)
Nara Takayna; ngini paywuta
Wurangkili mulapana-nara nuritinga tunapri -
For Grandad
By Phoebe GrainerOld cowboy hat.
We were laughing
Us mob
You telling us story. -
Baraya Barray - Whale Song
By Sonya HolowellI am a multidisciplinary artist, which I think reflects the way my ancestors have practised the interconnectedness of artforms. I often vocalise my written poetry, or create poetry with the potential to be musically interpreted. But more than this, poetry is pattern, and it is everywhere. Beyond mere associations to alphabetic text, poetry can be … -
Red Face Man
By Dylan Van Den BergRed face man don’t smile with his teeth but he clench my hand
like a purinina grips a bird by the neck.
Me and the bird the same –
Made the same promise whether we holler or hold our breath. -
Murmuration
By Luke Patterson'Murmuration' is a musical poem inspired by and written for Baraya Barray - Whale Song by Luke Patterson. Reflecting on this piece, Luke says:
Poetry and music are like perceptual magic tricks. They’re very good at readjusting the way we perceive space, time, memory, even ourselves. For the most part, I’m only a respectful observer of Wha… -
Gadhu Burri Burri
By Nicole SmedePoetry comes in many forms. It is found in a beautiful sunset, in the melodies sung by whales and whispered in wind, in feet stomping Country in dance, in the colours and patterns across a canvas and in the relationships with have with eachother and Country.
'Gadhu Burri Burri' is a sonic poem inspired by and written for Baraya Barray - W… -
Berrara
By Gary WatlingPoetry comes in many forms. It is found in a beautiful sunset, in the melodies sung by whales, in feet stomping Country in dance, in the colours and patterns across a canvas and in the relationships with have with eachother and Country.
'Berrara' is a musical poem inspired by and written for Baraya Barray - Whale Song by Gary Watling - a … -
Safe Way
By Kirli SaundersWith love and respect to the Saltwater Women on the East Coast Whale Songline for all times.
Aunty wave them safe way in
Nuenonne, Paredareme, Pyemmairrener waters, -
Changing Tides
By Zachary Bennett-BrookFrom a First Nations perspective poetry is not just written or spoken word, it is found in all creativity - song, dance, art, breath, Country and relationship.
Zachary Bennett-Brook's work is a visual poem on how he sees and feels Country, its meaning, shape, pattern and colour. It is a map of our connections to each other, to our kin and to … -
Nyuwili (tears)
By Charmaine Papertalk GreenI am kin to colonial archive violence
Ngayamanmanha; Ngayamanmanha; Ngayamanmanha flogging
Family stories of removal, genocides, and social experiments of eugenics
Bumanha; bumanha; bumanha; bumanha; bumanha killing -
What Pathways and Songlines?
By Charmaine Papertalk GreenIn this country of milk and honey
Contemporary mechanical dreamtime mine time animals
Land stolen from traditional owners
Vomiting our precious earth on foreign shores -
We Not Strangers or Visitors
By Charmaine Papertalk GreenFirst Nations peoples connecting to land they are not strangers or visitors.
Yamaji nyinayugundi
Old ground our country with ancient ones deep within
Winja barna -
Nyarlu Malga (Strong Woman)
By Charmaine Papertalk GreenABA a women’s daily dance for good BARNDIMANMANHA
JUGARNU Spirits move within the memory ground NHANGANHA
JURDU Country bush broom stirs dust and land WINDI-WINDIN
NYARLU Universe sweeping with grandmothers hand JUNDANMANHA -
Batha Batha Winjarnu
By Charmaine Papertalk GreenBATHABATHA; incompetent
Assimilation Policy
What a name!
Government should be ashamed -
Desert is a body
By Judith Nangala CrispinI’ve walked here before, in the shadow of old Limbunya Station,
Lingiari’s heartland, where Wickham River veers toward the western sea
but never makes it—fraying instead to threads that vanish in blue clefts,
where the desert lifts in scrub and towering sandstone cliffs, then drops -
sand classroom
By Lulu HoudiniI speak an endangered language
when stories were taught in sand
it too, has been displaced
but the grains -
a poem in which two indigiqueer hotties definitely do not overshare about anything featuring big-fish, big-birds, and revolutionary violence
By Raelee Lancaster, essa may ranapirithe bleeding sky &
the boiling earth
the call from my dad i left to go to nothing
but a missed notification
