Poetry
Time
Linear time
is something Settlers brought here
A version of time
that creates distance
Things that happened
a hundred years ago
are further away
than things that happened yesterday
A version of time
weaponised against Indigenous peoples
Our life ways
called “backward”
the past not of the future
Our Countries
described as “new”
and newly discovered
despite being known and loved
for thousands of years
The history
of this ancient land
said to “begin”
when Settlers arrived
A version of time
that is always carrying people away
from an unchangeable past
into an unknowable future
Giving the illusion of progress
regardless of whether
anything has changed
In Indigenous systems
time is not linear
It moves in cycles
It exists in space
in Country
and is as susceptible
to action and interaction
as any other life
On such a view
the ticking of clocks
the turning of calendars
makes nothing happen
moves nothing closer
or further away
from anything else
How far we have come
from the apocalypses and dystopias
of settler-colonialism
is measured by the degree
to which affected relationships
have been brought into balance
have been healed
To think of time in this way
is a gift
and a responsibility
It is a responsibility
because individual actions matter powerfully
radiating out
across all that would be thought of
in a linear sense
as past
present
future
It is a gift
because linear years
have never moved anyone so far
that meaningful action cannot be taken
to address the wounds
of settler-colonialism
The chance has not been lost
for justice
for change
Life doesn’t move through time
Time moves through life
From Living on Stolen Land, Magabala Books.
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