Guwayu, for all times: A Collection of First Nations poems
Paperback | Aug 2020 | Magabala Books | 9781925936544 | 198x145mm | GEN | AUD$24.99, NZD$29.99
I travel Country, like my Old People done. I see the Country, like my Old People done
I burn Country, like my Old People done. I sing Country, like my Old People done
— Jacob Morris, Ban Maganindadjyang (My Old People Done)
I burn Country, like my Old People done. I sing Country, like my Old People done
— Jacob Morris, Ban Maganindadjyang (My Old People Done)
This collection extends the ancient and continuing cultural practice of weaving to words. In Guwayu, for all times, the page becomes the vessel — the crafted object that carries culture. The making and crafting of each vessel, embeds the maker(s) into its final shape and form — its body. The poems in this collection are baskets and nets of the page. Together they are an exquisite vessel of twenty-first living Aboriginal culture.
‘... the voices in Guwayu, for all times are largely uncut and uncensored. It is a collection written for and by First Nations from the many communities that form the modern nation of Australia. Much Aboriginal writing in Australia is still subject to imported, introduced and sometimes invasive northern hemisphere, western literary practices. This collection knows no such limits, borders or boundaries. The works within are not trimmed, or manipulated, or edited by settler editors with a settler audience in mind. This collection is a radical intervention in Aboriginal publishing for its breadth of representation, diversity of language and drafting and editing protocols.’ — Jeanine Leane