We need to adapt Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd, David Boyd, John Brack, Bob Dickerson, John Perceval, Clifton Pugh, Bernard Smith when they wrote in ‘The Antipodean Manifesto’ in 1959 that:

We are not, of course, seeking to create a national style. But we do seek to draw inspiration from our own lives and the lives of those around us. Life here in this country has similarities to life elsewhere and also significant differences. Our experience of this life must be our material.

We must see that each life contains many lives and its multifariously individual. Nor am I suggesting there need be a national style even as the state need become allied and activist. Country though is decidedly different from nation, and we need express in language of our own making what it means to live as or with Indigenous people from Yamatji to Koori land. That means taking seriously the rich and living heritage of various communities in languages that are Indigenous to them with respect to the traditions that continue to matter. People need experience a wide variety of life – remote communities often need volunteers, which means there are countries in Australia that await learning from; Australians are free to travel and often do to a great many foreign nations that are not the retiree Contiki array that counts for the reading lists of reviewers; and one is able to pass through the suburbs, even dwell there, without much limitation. Only when poets see that the linguistic expression of these experiences are vital to decolonisation in the here and now will we begin to see a type of poetry that is worthy of the name.’

And the interlocutor said:

‘That may be so, but it does not matter, you need let the ecosystem flower. We are playing games and another house can be added in any direction. Do not wall off the possibility of multiplicity in what you say. Let go of the anger in May.’