| Description |
61 pages ; 20 cm |
|
regular print |
| Series |
Black Australian writing |
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UQP Black Australian writers.
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| Contents |
I am sitting in an exhibition room; alone -- Somewhere beyond this room is the sound of children -- At school I spent my time staring out of the window -- Two girls linger by a triptych - -- The room is quiet again -- This is my memory of my life -- Bindawalla, binda, bindi, bindii -- Little two-year-old in yellow plastic sandals -- Mr Cage, can you imagine -- I am in a room; it is day but the room is dark -- Sometimes the man and his wife go away -- These people give me a religion I do not want -- They change my name, I am no longer Elizabeth -- Little four-year-old with bells on her slippers - -- Every weekday - porridge -- When I don't eat my porridge -- Drip by precious drip, my life re-begins -- I have a toy stroller, filled with dolls -- One day my guardian comes to visit -- I know many places well - some I can still smell -- This place that I know well -- My best friend Vicky and I were invited to the minister's place for tea -- |
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Once, I became a Christian -- There is so much I have lost, there are things I've never known about my people -- When you walk this land do you notice the tracks of my people? -- I am a Wiradjuri woman -- I've heard it said I'm now at the invisibility age -- What is your yardstick, your benchmark? -- I am sitting in an exhibition room in an art gallery -- These words are my phoenix |
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Some memory paintings are suitable for public display -- Before Lutanda my father taught us about bush-tucker -- Sometimes I'd buff my shoes until I was mesmerised -- My father gave me a camera -- The adults at Lutanda ran our little lives -- My mother knitted herself a yellow jumper -- The tree-lined street where my guardian's lover lived -- Sometimes we would knock and knock but the door stayed shut -- Father gained custody of me and my siblings -- Now I am fifteen, I am living with my father -- My father is waltzing me around the lounge room -- At seventeen I moved into the anonymity and solitude of Sydney -- Revered in her church community, the step-grandmother -- Have you ever stood on the edge of your country and wondered where you belong? -- I am twenty, homeless and restless -- Husband number one tells me -- Husband number one -- My culture and my place were things I did not know how to reach -- I have an obsession with polished boots -- |
| Summary |
The collection of poems begins and ends with a scene in an art gallery. The poet, surrounded by indigenous art in the gallery, is reminded of her own story, which cannot be painted on canvas |
| Notes |
Cover: 'Hodgson's poems are beautifully nuanced ... subtle and powerful', Jennifer Martiniello |
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Winner of the David Unaipon Award |
| Subject |
Aboriginal Australians -- Poetry.
|
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Aboriginal Australians -- Australia -- New South Wales -- Poetry.
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Aboriginal Australians, Treatment of -- Poetry.
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Australian poetry -- Aboriginal Australian authors.
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Australian poetry -- Authors, Australian
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Australian poetry -- 21st century.
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Australian poetry.
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Children, Aboriginal Australian -- Poetry.
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| Genre/Form |
Poetry.
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| LC no. |
2008426278 |
| ISBN |
9780702236778 (paperback) |
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