Here is the latest chapter in Croakey’s Poems of Public Health by Canberra poet Owen Bullock, with four new pieces – including one (ever) timely reflection on constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Read the background to this occasional feature and his previous Poems of Public Health, where he wrote ‘on demand’ on climate change.
***
a Permablitz day (10-4)
Rob taught us the bindings
for the bamboo tripods
with flax or string
Rose designed the trellis
of hazelnut switches
James dismantled pallets
and Hugo turned them into compost bins
Sue organised the double-digging
of veggie beds
Trish & team moved and planted fruit trees
twenty-eight people came together
to work, learn, share company
by the end of the day
compost bins were cooking
fruit trees mulched
veggie beds full of seedlings
irrigation installed
Marie, whose garden it was
a novice
now eats from it every day
studies organics
and teaches her neighbours
about food
Owen Bullock
***
recognition
this story
of 40,000 years
of a people
the first
(who isolated a pigment
for painting, that highest attainment
of civilisation)
it was never
terra nullius
and what of
the next generation?
they want to live
in a better world
1890s constitution drafts
excluded
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples
and women
women could vote in 1902
Aboriginal women in 1962
the 1967 referendum
removed Section 127
natives shall not be counted
Section 51 still allows
for discrimination
voters may be banned
on the basis of race
indigenous people
aren’t mentioned
in the only western ruling document
without an anti-racial discrimination
clause
to change it
and grow further
Australia needs a majority
a majority in each state
Owen Bullock
***
diagnosis
thrush
endometriosis . . .
a female critic
told a woman writer
that the gory details of hysterectomy
should not be discussed
in a story
and I wondered . . .
since details seem vital
to understanding
a male poet
an occasional editor
told me
women’s issues
weren’t universal enough
but because women represent
52% of the world’s population
I thought they might be
Owen Bullock
***
au
the driest continent
fourth highest consumer of water
agriculture, then residential
but household use is declining
desalination may be the answer
some experts say
Owen Bullock
OwenBullock has published a collection of poetry, two books of haiku and a novella. He has edited a number of journals and anthologies and taught students of all ages. He is interested in the potential of poetry to fulfil a variety of social roles. Owen is a PhD candidate at the University of Canberra.
- You can track Owen Bullock’s series, Poems of Public Health, here: https://croakey.org/?cat=46699
