CONTRIBUTORS

Charmaine Papertalk Green

Charmaine Papertalk Green is from the Wajarri, Badimaya and Southern Yamaji peoples of Mid West Western Australia. She has lived and worked in rural Western Australia (Mid West and Pilbara) most of her life, and within the Aboriginal sector industry as a community agitator, artist/poet, community development practitioner and social sciences researcher. Her poetry has appeared in Antipodes, Artlink Magazine, Cordite Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review and The Lifted Brow, as well as in the anthologies The Fremantle Press Anthology of Western Australian Poetry, Inside Black Australia: An Anthology of Aboriginal Poetry, Ora Nui: A Collection of Maori and Aboriginal Literature, The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets and Those Who Remain Will Always Remember: An Anthology of Aboriginal Writing. She lives in Geraldton, Western Australia.

Yamaji Kin Songline

I am kin to the Bimarra creation line Snaking across country into bloodlines Creator of Yamaji life and culture Sustaining very old ancestor our old country Nganajungu Bimarra is our medicine I am kin to the old people now sand …

Posted in 105: NO THEME 11 | Tagged

Yamaji Kin Songline

I am kin to the Bimarra creation line Snaking across country into bloodlines Creator of Yamaji life and culture Sustaining very old ancestor our old country Nganajungu Bimarra is our medicine I am kin to the old people now sand …

Posted in 104: KIN | Tagged

This is my storytelling!

This is my data, and This is my Sovereign right. No more whitewashing Let Truth be told Dear Australian Whitewasher, Why do you find it difficult to understand ‘my kind’ and ‘my people’? Is it because of a whitewashed Australian …

Posted in 101: NO THEME 10 | Tagged

Introduction to Charmaine Papertalk Green’s Nganajungu Yagu

Since Charmaine Papertalk Green’s poetry was first published in The Penguin Book of Australian Women Poets in 1986, her voice on the page has been consistent: eloquently powerful, respectfully challenging and true to her role in life as a Yamaji Nyarlu.

Posted in INTRODUCTIONS | Tagged , ,

Tea Leaves Stains

Café sitting teacup drinking Tea leaves tell a story You know slavery Poured through generation eyes Swirling into existence With each teaspoon stir Stirring memories not forget Wadjbella’s took something Society slavery here Like domesticating a cat Or breaking in …

Posted in 89: DOMESTIC | Tagged

न्हानानग्गु यागु | Nhananggu Yagu

Translated from the English to the Hindi by Subhash Jaireth न्हानानग्गु यागु: मेरी मां जो मेरी अपनी मां है, हमेशा कहा करती थी कि माथा उठा कर चलो मेरी साहसी छुटकी निअरलु, यानि की मैं न्हानानग्गु यागु: मेरी मां, जो …

Posted in 76: DALIT INDIGENOUS | Tagged ,

Don’t Want Me to Talk

You don’t want me to talk about Mining or its impact on Country You don’t want me to talk about The concept and construct of ‘whiteness’ Its dominance and power in society You don’t want me to talk about The …

Posted in 72: THE END | Tagged

Blinding Loyalty

The Yamaji didn’t see it coming Having taken over from their fathers Working as farm hands Mullewa side The seasonal work welcomed Getting to drive the equipment Preparing the land for wheat Driving in circles and squares Late at night …

Posted in 66: OBSOLETE | Tagged

A White Australia Mindset

When do you know it has become obsolete? When can we be certain it has become obsolete? Take the White Australian Policy abolished on paper yet The mindset was to keep Australia for the descendants Of the British and to …

Posted in 66: OBSOLETE | Tagged