Burrabara-dyara (The Time of Bewilderment)
Ngaya bamal. Sun rides high – warami, old people, the barray (land) shimmers as cicadas cry out their heat song.By the ngurra (camp), we weave, fish for garara (mullet), burra…
Ngaya bamal. Sun rides high – warami, old people, the barray (land) shimmers as cicadas cry out their heat song.By the ngurra (camp), we weave, fish for garara (mullet), burra…
Claytons: the drink you have when you’re not having a drink. A brand for the fake, the substitute, the stand-in – Australia’s own way of pretending, performing the ritual of…
Lachie and Rupie, barons of ink, Turn chaos to coin quicker than you’d think. With profit their beacon and ethics for sale, They spin every scandal and tip every scale.Assaults…
King Grift the Great, with a gold-foil crown, Parades through towns in his made-for-TV gown. He kisses the babies (but pockets their sweets), Spins tales of the swamp to billionaires’…
GD! Great and Glorious GD, Glow at the heart of every candle, Gift behind evergreen fronds, Gently weaving wonder – GD!No face, no form, No word can frame You; You…
Old friend Jöge, lifted high, On New Year’s Eve beneath the sky, You greet the dusk’s warm, sticky hand – No frosted air across our land. Still, dinner jackets, black…
Simple, yet vast beyond measure, Three fires have lit my path, Three hungers, more urgent than hunger, More vital than the very breath I draw.First is the longing for love…
Come gather round, ye people all, and hearken to this song, Of troubled times in distant lands and power running wrong. The orange king upon his throne looked southwards in…
I often write reflections here, but today I offer something different – a lyrical composition meant to be read aloud, breathed in, and carried with you. It is a song…
Born in Queens and coiffed in gold, Little Donny wasn’t shy or cold. Nickels clinked inside his shoe, Dreams of towers, world askew.Primed at school – military “brat” – Said…
I want a peace prize, I deserve a peace prize, Nobody’s ever worked for peace like me, I stopped eight wars, nine, possibly fifty— (But just up here, in the…
1. At seventy – my prime! (Believe me, it’s true!) Not like some sleepy grandpas who trip on their shoe. I launched a campaign – so “yuge”’ so exciting –…
Behold the bitch with golden straw for hair, Not silver, mind you, golden everywhere. Born into towers gilded, sleek and tall, Each childhood tear was crying over gall, For all…
Back before the curries came, We knew just what was right – Meat pies, beer by midday, And brawls on Friday night.A country built on “fair go,” Well, only for…
Pleased to meet you, mortals – I am HE, the cosmic con, Ringmaster for believers since the circus first came on. I moulded mud into a man, for company a…
In the gilded halls of Lydia's throne, Where gold flowed like rivers untamed, Sat Croesus, the king on his pile of stone, Enthroned in his vanity, richly proclaimed. "Oh Solon,…
Thursday, I rode the evening rails, Silver tracks hissing under the city’s scars – Ordinary, almost, but for a man: Threadbare, hair wild as winter grass, Clutching a cardboard plea…
Before the day begins, when the city still holds its breath, I walk on ground that remembers other footsteps – long before roads and fences, before this place was claimed…
In the quiet fold of Djarrakpi, where sacred Country draws the ancestors close, spirits linger in the shadow of bloodwood, Milngiya River stirs – time-old and wise – flowing with…
In slanted sun, the elders sit, Their hands a map of years and wit – Wrinkled skin, a thousand lines Tracing constellations time defines. Within their eyes, moonlight rests, A…