mob of pelicans
big way here
crowding that jetty
like a family photo
don’t feel it?
it’s bad air
from the top of the lake
to the mountains
is tree war country
light catches pink
throats of conflict
make a boat traditional way and cover this lake
make a desk traditional way and cover this page
we want something back from this water
taste the salt but not
the tears
the pelicans are leaving us
like a line of words
quicker than the tongue
drift glide sail waft
fly
fly away
something happened here.
Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning author of Murri and Dutch heritage. She belongs to the Mununjali people of the Scenic Rim in South East Queensland. She is the author of a work of fiction,
Heat and Light and a poet volume,
Comfort Food.
Kamlesh Gayakwad is an Adivasi writer from Ghodmal in Vansda taluka of Navsari district in Gujarat. He writes in Kunkana and Gujarati. He holds a Ph.D. Degree in Gujarati. Besides teaching in a college, he is engaged in research and documentation of the oral tradition in Kunkana and Varli languages of Adivasis of the region His publications include compilations of the tale of Varli Narandev, Kunkana folk songs, Kunkana Devkaren and Varli folk songs. He has won two Gujarati Sahitya Parishad (Ahmedabad) awards in 2012 for his
Varli Narandev ni Katha.
