We live what you did
by Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta
An Ode to ‘It’s Just So Wrong’ by Ali Cobby Eckermann.
Guest-edited by Mykaela Saunders, the Odes series invites six First Nations poets to write an Ode to another’s poem.
relationships set in the web of space in a universe of balance
food-chain sustenance in country seas and waterways
take a need but no more to respect the natural garden
making all-life particles of everything in our world oneness
why did you change it to justify destruction and genocide
of all-life for the profits from growth and gratification
we are country and country is us and there is no other world
for your powers here are alien to this country of all-life
the giant trees that sit over all other life on the ground are homes
for all-life from land to air where guilangta the wedge-tailed eagle
will sit and see the loss from logging the giants for last grab profits
all justified in the name of growth and economy costing nothing left
these laws you brought kill everything of value to the balance
when we challenge in your law you do not hear or understand
that we are a life of all-life in oneness of country seas and waterways
that thousands of years of learning to understand is all-life knowledge
and when the old man sat looking up to the night sky and said
it’s wrong to kill an eagle he could see and he could understand
how the old world broke up and he could see the badness stuck inside
wrong ways
we live what you did to us and ours that made our place break
with memories of the killings for our lands and ongoing cries for freedom
that are denied us under alien laws and dominance of all power
and we sing for the safety of country seas and waterways of our place
Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta
truwana/Cape Barren Island
lutrawita/Tasmania
Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta was born at Flinders Island, lutrawita/Tasmania in 1942. He is from the clan plangermairreenner, a clan of the Cape Portland nation in North-east Tasmania. Jim left primary school at 14 years to start work. His working life includes 15 years at sea as a fisherman and merchant seaman, Australian Regular Army for 3 years, and over 50 years formal involvement in the Aboriginal Struggle. He has a long history in the public service in Aboriginal Affairs, and has traveled Australia, and overseas visiting many remote Aboriginal communities.
Jim began writing poetry at an early age. He wrote his first play, We Are Survivors, in 1984, produced, directed, and acted in it. His written works now include plays, political and academic papers and short stories. Jim has produced and been associate producer in many documentary films. He is published in many major anthologies. Jim lives on Cape Barren Island writing and maintaining involvement in cultural arts nationally. His latest achievement was to graduate at 81 years of age for his masters degree on Aboriginal philosophy.