Burdiya Karri

our guide left facts in the air
that my memory cannot touch

their eyes saw this poem

stepping up onto a log to explain
all trees but this Burdiya Karri were leveled by men,
they left one,
so that its seeds
could explain into trees
again

King Karri, the Wadjela guide called it,
but our Nyoongar guide called it
Burdiya Karri. Affection hung between us,
sadness fell,
and together we breathed

this is a biodiversity hotspot, which means
we have thousands of native species
on Nyoongar Boodja
but for many more, precariousness hangs

the rain touched us
we were still

I am Wadjela too
I am non-Aboriginal
I have heard Elders who speak of waking up
their language and their culture

sometimes poetry feels like sleeping –
memory always repeats the dream

we all saw faces in the trees
on the hill of spiders
and heard Nyoongar Dreaming –
connected to the ghosts of gone species

we have strayed from flame too often
these trees need to burn to explain
into life – an essence, released, a longing

there is no comfort in the naming of things
but – everybody clapping on the one and the three

we need to measure the trunk to understand its age
so we linked arms, encircled
Burdiya Karri,
and counted

my face against the wet bark
we are sixteen arms
this one is over 400 years old

lick bark,
wake up, dark-lit, sticky mouthed,
with hand on heart

when I was younger I thought trees let you
access heaven, not by climbing
but – as a rhyme does –
welcome you into a kingdom of rhythms
when will we clap on the two and the four
this tree, these flames, this lore

when the trees are too young
they do not grow back from being burnt
you did not grow back

some memories I wish to sink my face into
or – speaking plainly – to wake up

With thanks to Hannah Etchells and Esther McDowell for guiding us on the walk. Thanks also to Andrew Christie for the line "Everybody Clapping on the One and the Three", which is a Willie Nelson quote and also the title of a very good exhibition he held at Paper Mountain gallery in 2017.

---

Audio produced by Britta Jorgensen for Voices of Trees at the Digital Writers Festival 2017.