Poem
Ellen van Neerven
Paper ships, many fires
I know what you’re thinking
how can we save the world?
when we have barely
just survived it
when we have been disposed of
raped and murdered
erased and orphaned
and lost 90 per cent or more of our kin
when we are just getting to our feet
when we are hurt
and barely breathing
from the impact
when we have been dispossessed more than once, more than twice
by killings, disease, poison
mining companies, governments, floods and
White fire
Aunty and Uncle fight to stay
on their sacred land
they won’t leave
but we don’t see them on TV
can you guess two “c” words
so closely connected, they are the same?
cook and cunt?
nice try. colonisation and climate change
fight one and you fight them both
we endeavour to save this world
guided by elders, remembering and restoring
old science and medicine
a flame burns at the Tent Embassy in Kamberra
still burns
this fire represents many fires
reminding us we are still here
*
This year, Australia plans to mark the 250th anniversary
of a landing in two views
the view from the ships
and the view from the shore
when we imagine the shore
we imagine our men
holding spears
watching the tall ships come closer
and our womxn?
I’ve been looking for you
I find you in the absence
I go back home
feel the strong defence of country
through the blood
and placenta
of grandmothers
with tears in my eyes
with determined bones
the blood soaks through
and speaks truth
inhaling 250 years of smoke
it takes all our hands
to lift the masts of those ships
out of the dirt
*
This is everything I’ve learnt about paper
it comes from trees
the tree and us are one
we breathe together
we look after trees
like they look after us
some are our ancestors
we belong to them
we give to trees
to receive
they are our life
and death
we never forget
they are in the paper
we wear
crap on
and write
shelter, medicine and food
words mean nothing without action
language is empty
without ceremony
______
Ellen van Neerven joins Maxine Beneba Clarke and Omar Sakr as The Saturday Paper’s poets for this year.
This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on Jan 25, 2020 as "Paper ships, many fires".
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