Welcome
By Ziggy Ramo
Published 11 August 2026
I’d like to acknowledge
the lack of knowledge.
We renamed the Frontier Wars
the forgotten.
Let us disrespect
the elders with chains on their necks.
Finders keepers –
the land was stolen,
but there is no debt to collect.
Have pride in your genocide.
There is no need to hide.
Fascism is on the rise
and the room starts clapping.
A sigh of relief
to have finally been seen.
Knock, knock - who’s there?
A seat at the table
if I dare.
A choir of boos
welcome me.
I am
the ungrateful Aborigine.
Write a poem about an invitation that comes with conditions.
Ziggy Ramo
#30in30 #PoetryMonth
The right words can be cutting, but you have to actively read them. Music is visceral. It washes over you instantly. Marrying the two has always been a core principle in my practice. My favourite artists have always used soundscapes to amplify language.
Music gives poetry a body. It lets words move through breath, timing, tone and repetition. Poetry gives music precision. It sharpens feeling into something that can be held, questioned and returned to.
For me, the relationship between poetry and song is not trivial. It carries truth in a form people can feel before they are ready to understand it.
