by

Luka Lesson

THE FUTURE ANCIENTS

Copyright

Title: The Future AncientsAuthor: Luka Lesson© 2013, L. Haralampou aka Luka Lessonlukalesson@gmail.com

Cover Illustration by Sarah McCloskey

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties.

Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

“The destiny of man is in his own soul” - Herodotous

4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface 7Labyrinth 10Amber Lights 15Astrono-me 20Please Resist Me 24A to Z 28Kaleidoscopes 35She Wades Knee-deep 41Scars 45The New Crusades 48Leaders 52Diaspora 54/XFN��7хƵƦ������56:KDW�+DYH�:H�%HFRPH�ƘƤ�¶ӻƪƪƦƬƤư"�����59Yiayia 63Athena 67Centre Place 71Killing Time 75History Books 81Coins of Language 83>

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Elemental Spectrum 86If This War is Won 90The Fifth Season 937KH�&RQÁXHQFH�����97Eloquent Abyss 100Power Lines 103May Your Pen Grace The Page 106Feathers 109Exit 113The Future Ancients 115The Poet’s Quote 120

Dedicated to Caleb Jones and Omar Abu-Dabat.If it wasn’t for your departing, I may not have stayed so long.

Rest in Poetry

7

Recently, I had the pleasure of reading Herodotus’ The Histories IRU�WKH�ÀUVW�time. Immediately I was not only imagining the vivid scenes within it, but also sensing how it must have felt to witness it being recited in the period LW�ZDV�ÀQLVKHG��DURXQG����%&��2I�FRXUVH�EHFDXVH�RI� LWV�DJH�DQG� OHQJWK�� LW�ZDV�QHYHU�D�¶ERRN·�IRU�LQGLYLGXDOV�WR�RZQ��EXW�D�UHVRXUFH�WR�EH�SHUIRUPHG�LQ�amphitheatres and publicly debated. It was this book that originally gave me the inspiration for the one you are now holding.

The Future Ancients is intended to be a record of speech, proof of hip-hop’s poetic nature, and the transcription of a storyteller’s repertoire; nothing more and nothing less. It is a collection of 30 spoken word and rap verses written between 2008 and 2013. Along the way, with help from Bronwyn Lovell and Petr Malapanis, as much effort as possible has been put into enhancing the layout and readability of the content, without losing its rhythm or spoken feel.

Today, individuals can each own a copy of this book, but not necessarily have the luxury of having someone recite or perform it for them. So to bring together the opportunities presented by new technologies and the growing love of spoken word poetry world-wide, The Future Ancients has two special IHDWXUHV��:KHUH�DSSURSULDWH��,�KDYH�LQFOXGHG�¶45·�FRGHV�DW�WKH�HQG�RI�SRHPV�to link by way of an easy smart phone scan to videos or audio recordings. Since spoken word is an oral tradition, YouTube has become something of a library, connecting us directly to poets and their performances. These QR FRGHV�DUH�PHDQW�WR�IDFLOLWDWH�WKLV�FRQQHFWLRQ�PRUH�HDVLO\�DQG�DUH�¶G\QDPLF·��so they can be changed to link to anything relevant further down the track. The book itself will then continue to evolve long after the time of printing.

PREFACE

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Beyond this, the original idea for this book was for it to encourage others to also tell their own stories and be heard. So I have included pages especially for this purpose in an open space at the end of this collection. So be creative. Write the tough stuff, and enjoy it. I hope this book will turn into a well-worn addition to your lives.

Above all, this book is for the teenage me. For the kids who never really got ¶SRHWU\·�� EXW� WKRXJKW� KLS�KRS�ZDV� DPD]LQJ� DQG�ZHUH� QHYHU� WROG� WKH\�ZHUH�essentially the same thing. It is also for everyone who has ever helped me in ways small or big since I began writing. Thank you all so much for supporting this work, and more importantly, thank you for being a part of my journey.

Much love,Luka

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LABYRINTH

featuring Hailey Cramer

Born in an earthquakeI learnt fate was nothing but a cross between my search and my birthplaceBlood from Meltemi winds that speak to mewhere the mountains meet the seaon an Island of dreamsI mean

(DVW�RI�ZKHUH�0LQRDQV�ÀUVW�PDGH�PRVDLFVWest of where Jesus once spoke AramaicNorth of where Hypatia taught algebraicSouth of where Athenian theories were formulated

Icouldn’t believe my eyes when I found the Labyrinthin the groundwet from clear water running down the mountainI’d never seen a labyrinth how was I to establish it was grounded in a battle OLNH�LW�ZDV�D�PDS�RI�1D]DUHWK�WRZQ"

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The Labyrinth grew from earthfrom patterns in the dirt heard a battalion converge I heard the call of birds

We’re all born into a labyrinth at birthwe’re all born into a labyrinth at birthon a search

Come follow meI will guide you in to the middleevery step you takeevery mistake you makeI will guide you in to the middle

Escaping executionI ride to retributiontwo moons in the skya diamond in my eyean eagle by my sidea letter from a beggar telling me to turn six lefts and twenty-seven rights

Assembling the evidence RQ�D�TXHVW�WR�ÀQG�WKH�FHQWUH�of this elaborate labyrinth

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I’ve been banished to the desert where I resurrected a Bedouin he’s telling me the essence of why I’m eloquent and how we’re heaven sent

And then he let me know:“Be as powerful as the owl that glows and as wise so that you never choke”

Before he left he gave me many letters and notes and taught me how to read the sand dunes like a Rosetta Stone

And that was hieroglyphicsso he reminded me that writers were invited WR�ÀJKW�DW�WKH�2O\PSLFV�with their lyrics

He said: “The earth is made up of words;it’s a labyrinth of knowledge we all enter at birthon a search”

//

13

I walked forthrightI pausedcaught sight of four knighted horsemen drawing swords in the torchlight

All four corners of the labyrinth were in plain sight so I remained calm took the reins and got my aim right

I shot straight pastthey made way and chased hardI prayed to the grace of God to lay the path

Cobble-stones had gotten so grotty, no-body knowswhere the Autumn snow shows or where our footprints go

They started shooting gunsI knew that they had wona bullet through my lungjust like a setting sunand like a setting sunmy demise is my risingwhen seen from the other side of the horizon

14

So as I hit the dirtreminded me of churchI took Communion from the crust of the earth

We exit a labyrinth at death and it’s the same one we enter at birthon a search

Chorus written by Hailey Cramer

15

AMBER LIGHTS

The boys at school and I disappeared between classespassed tobacco between our hands like water at the wellsmoke signals provided translationbetween multi-coloured kids wagging in a vacant lot

We met there between family and school felt most at home in the no-man’s land ZKHUH�WKH�ROG�DQG�WKH�QHZ�ZRUOGV�FRXOGQ·W�ÀQG�XV:H��HYHQ�PHW�WKHUH�IRU�ÀJKWVÀUVW�NLVVHV swigs of alcohol on weekend nightsIt’s even where my friend Mark told me about how our friend Omar had diedand I found the truth somewhere between the explanations

Us kids grew up in that vacant lotbetween being GreekLebaneseVietnamese and Australian

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Knowing we were no longer truly either one but somehow bothMigrant kids are like riversalways moving but somehow still enough to be given a namelike Wog, Nip, Fake - hyphen - AustralianSo of course when we learnt how to drivewe’d ride for hours in the only place where we felt like we belongedsomewhere between points A and Bbetween the green and the red ,�OHDUQHG�WR�ORYH�WKH�WUDIÀF�OLJKWV�ZKHQ�WKH\�WXUQHG�DPEHUbecause I realised our teachers also slowed down on their approach to us and tapped their feet impatiently for our answers

I’ve learnt to rest my head in the elbows of my lovers somewhere between their hearts and their handslike the moon I keep my distance because it’s the only thing that makes me look like I’m standing still enough to get close to

So now I write my best work in transit in hotel rooms where the linen is transparent and the paintings by no-one

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I write so the silences between my words can begin to make sense and I exist somewhere between the surface of the page and the tip of the penso I wrote this piece in the marginsbut the whole thing is the TITLEat dawn and at dusksomewhere between the ridgesthe pinnacle and the cuspso when they tell me I’m not political enough not Greek enough not Australian enoughnot a poet enough not street enough or not me enough I tell them I am a starand I exist somewhere between you seeing me shine and realising I’m already dead to you

I just let you witness some of my burning

I am not a hyphen I am a 100-metre dashbetween my history and your make believeb etween White-Australia policiesand being saved by the colony

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between having to drag my past, kicking, back into my present and then hide it behind my back in your presenceSo be careful when you place that hyphen in my nameor I’ll use it to cut your throatjust to show you how much I love this country but that I will always have some Sparta in me

I may be the amber lightbut amber is the only gemstone that is a living,ÁRZLQJ��OLTXLG���SHUPDQHQWO\�IRVVLOLVHG�that keeps itself warmthat is used as medicinethat smells sweet when it gets burntthat in Roman times was worth more than a slavethat was used to decorate Mycenaean tombsthat was named ¶пƪƤƩƲƯƮ· by the GreeksD�SUHFXUVRU�WR�WKH�(QJOLVK�ZRUG�IRU�¶HOHFWULFLW\·because they discovered that if rubbed the wrong wayamber will always create a sparkand amber is only ever increased in valuewhen some of us are discovered stuck in it

So of course us forgotten ones the in-betweens the most rare

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ZRXOG�JDWKHU�DURXQG�WKH�ÀUHV�LQ�WKDW�YDFDQW�ORWVKDUH�ÁHHWLQJ�PRPHQWV�RI�EHORQJLQJ�and tell stories in our silences RI�KRZ�RXU�IULHQG�2PDU�ZDV�VHQW�Á\LQJbetween the hood of a Holden and the wall of a house like a shooting star

I’m just glad we got to witness some of his burning…

пƪƤƩƲƯƮ³�¶HOHFWUR·�WKH�DQFLHQW�*UHHN�ZRUG�IRU�DPEHU

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ASTRONO-ME

)URP�WKH�¶%LJ�3RSSD·the Big Bangme and Hip-hop became friends

Silhouettes in the sweats of our dancerevolutions in the pops and the locks of our hands

Zero gravitya spin cyclecompetitions for nothing but street titles

We’re all stars all spark like lighterssome burn for longer but some burn brighter

21

Life,with my eyes rose-tint,�HYHQ�WULHG�WR�VSDUN�P\�RZQ�ÁLQW

They tried to kill me in the blink of an eyebut in time you’ll catch a glimpse of my glimmering and glint

I’m a diamond in a skyI let it shine on the page as a sign of the times

I don’t follow the stars so don’t bother meI light my own path

Astrono-me

The universe in my verseseach word like the earth ¶FDXVH�LW·V�FXUYHG�DQG�LW·V�FXUVLYHeach letter is a starKRZ�PDQ\�FRQVWHOODWLRQV�LQ�D�SDUDJUDSK"

Each wish that is cast in the distance is crafting a gift in our heartsbut our master is asking each of us to commit to looking after the star on which we’ve been cast in the darkness

22

Our dice have been thrownit’s the rock we call homewe don’t know what we’ve got ¶WLO�LW·V�JRQHlike the trees in the Amazonor the bees in the honeycombwhen every season is sunny thoughwe’ll know the end is on the cardsand even our debts will be worth nothing but a jokelike a funny bone

They want to colonise Mars

//

6R�ZLOO�,�PDNH�DOO�WKH�PRQH\�DQG�WKH�SHUNV"DQG�ZLOO�LW�WDNH�PH�WR�WKH�HGJH�RI�WKH�HDUWK"I only want to be a star so I can change all the hurtEXW�KRZ�PDQ\�VLQV�GR�ZH�PDNH�RQ�WKH�ZD\�WR�WKH�FKXUFK"

You better face it, it’s certainto engage with a certain kind of personyou’ve got to meet them halfwaybalance on the line like a circusbetween your anger and your purpose

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Make a parody to make them purchasePDNH�WKHP�ORYH�\RX�ÀUVW�before you make them nervous

They say I’ve got the world on my shoulders like a burdenbut I’d rather be hurting and making a disturbance

than falling for diversions

so while I’m making the conversion

between a rolling stone and a starI know I’ll keep burning

even when they close the curtains

24

PLEASE RESIST ME

Please resist mecolonise mecompromise me DQG�FRQÁLFW�PH

Please don’t risk meif you see me at the airport please come and frisk me

Please resist mecolonise me FRPSURPLVH�PH�DQG�FRQÁLFW�PH

Please don’t risk meplease call me stupidbecause your resistance brings my evolution

Please resist mecall me a wogit’s brought us so close together I could call me a squad

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Please resist meORFN�PH�LQ�VROLWDU\�FRQÀQHPHQWI’ll close my eyes and admire the quality of the silence,·OO�ZULWH�UK\PHV�LQ�P\�PLQG�KRQHVWO\�DQG�GHÀQH�WKHPVROLGO\�UHGHÀQH�DQG�PHPRULVH�WKHPuntil like a diamond when I come out I’ll be better than when I arrived in

Please resist mekeep me under the thumbkeep me downtrodden keep me under the gunkeep me working harder under thunder and sunVRQ���KDYHQ·W�\RX�KHDUG"I’m becoming a gun

Please resist mebecause resistance brings evolutionand you’ve resisted me so consistentlyI thank you for your contributionI am a happy manyour stupidity has made me strongI’ve developed wingsa thick skin and this here opposable thumb

26

It holds my pen which loads my explodable tongueso without loading a gun I’m killing high quotas of unemotional...punks

Sorryyou also taught me to speak FrenchI learnt it when you kept keeping me at arm’s lengthand then I learnt Italian just to expand my headDQG�*UHHN�WR�OHDUQ�IURP�ZKHUH�P\�DQFHVWRUV�KDG�ÁHG

And then I learnt some Yanyuwajust to show the people of this land some respectyou seeit’s been your example that has led me to leave you for dead

So don’t trust meI’m riskyinsurmountable unaccountableI’m an undeniable unreliable maniacal liability,�ÀUH�VROLORTXLHV�DQG�P\�OLWXUJLHV�OLWHUDOO\�OHDYH�D�OLWHUDU\�litany

You seewhen I was littlethey told me I was

27

illegitimate, illiterate and limitedlittle did they know that in a minute I’d be killing itI’m vivid like in cinemas so my synonym is vividnessI stick it like I’m cinnamon and kill it like a militantI live it like a citizen you live a life like imprisonmentbesides Indigenous, immigrant might be the most legitimateof citizensso it’s better to live a life like us

,VQ·W�LW"

Language of the Yanyuwa nation from the South-West Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. Taught by Yanyuwa elders in Borroloola and at the University of Queensland, Brisbane.

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A TO Z

Apple aardvarks and alligatorsan adlib acean Adidas appreciatoran astrophysicist as apt as Astroboymy apostrophes and asterisks act as asteroidsas Athenian as an acropolisas armed as an Afghanian Aboriginal apologetic as anti-American as an Al-Qaeda army

But for Barack Obama he did once brandish a beautiful brainbesides we both broadcast our breath to blow-up Bush’s Bagdad basebureaucratic Big Bird brainsbi-lingual Bin Laden belittling bureaucratic big birdbrains

Courageously creative on cratescommitted contemplatorCaptain Cook criticcross-cultural communicatora connoisseur of Chuck T’scommon sense and Cassius Claycommitted to colonial change like Castro and Che

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Distinctly dashingdonating durational dictations to the disadvantaged like dreamsdon’t do drugs, drink or damagedevelop dictionary destinies and determinationdemocratic dialoguedictatorship disintegrationGHÀQLWHO\�GRQ·W�GXPE�LW�GRZQdeliberately delivering didactic detonations

Emotional elephant evolved from earth’s elementseffortlessly eloquentexceptionally excellenteminent embellishment enemies effeminateemcee etiquette expertwith an elegant exoskeleton

My Family’s forefathers foresaw their fortunes would fallWKH\�IRXJKW�IRU�ÁLJKWV�IRU�IRXUIRU�WKHP�,�ÀQG�P\�IHHW�ÀUP�RQ�WKH�ÁRRU

30

Godgreen grassglue*UHHN�JUHHWLQJV�²�ƊƨнƱƮƳJUDIÀWLgreat gargantuan googun-gripped gripesgifts from girl guidesgovernment guidelinesgeishas, gestation - grewgroper gills go great on George Foreman’s grillgypsy guitars grieving ghosts of Guadalupe from Germans at Guernica

Heroic haiku hustlerhumble hypothesiserHellenic heritage holderhip-hop highlighterheadphone hijackera hermit, a hereticheart healerheadache holderHippocratic hypocrite

Impeccable impetusimpatient and immune to immoral internetillicit and yet innocentintentionally intimateI ignite ideas inside intentionally ignorants

31

intent upon imprisonmentI’m impatient in imparting ideologies Indigenous and immigrantand I insist on injecting ink instead of insulin

The JLEEHU�MDEEHU�MXVWLÀFDWLRQ�RI�MXVWLFHI’m just as dutifully juxtaposing the jury and judgesI’m joyfully jovial on my journeys and jauntswith my jacket, jumper, jersey, jewellery and jihad jawmy jugular’s a jungle of jinxesa jurisdiction of jokes to give Jack and Jill the jittersOLNH�MHOO\�ÀVKHVI jump at joints by J Dilla, Jay-Z and Jurassic 5and my job as a jukebox is just to jot jests that jeopardise

Kapow! kendo, karate, kung fuKuwaitis, Kazakhstanis, Kenyans, Khmer Rougekoalas, kangaroos, kookaburras in KakaduThe KKK killed King and Kennedy - they’re cuckoo.Kaboom!kaleidoscopic kamikazes in KabulNed Kelly’s kinsman keep keeping their KingswoodsKremlin KGB keep Kurds on their knees in Kosovokomodos in kimonos kick karaoke in Kyotokids in kaftans keep kebabs in their kitchensKentucky Fried kids keep Krispy-Kremes in the kingdomketchup and Kit-Kats

32

kilograms of kilojoules.�6ZLVV�.DQ\H�NLGV�XVH�D�¶N·�ZKHQ�WKH\�VSHOO�¶NRRO·Kazantzakis and Khalil Gibran; keys to knowledge I keepBut I am an artist much more Frida Kahlo than Keats so

Learn a languagelet your lobe and larynxlearn to let your lungs and lips levitate lyrics

Motivate to master mantrasmove to memorise metaphysical messages

Nocturnally nurture notationsnurse notebooks in narrative negotiations

On one occasionthe omnipotent One opted to offer His own orationone oracle’s observations:

The people’s prophet was poised to preach to the public from the pulpitI paused to paraphrase the paragraphs of the poet

33

It’s Quietthe queen questionedand quintessentially He quickly quips a quotation I quote it:

“Rap requires a revolutionary renaissancea rhetoric reincarnation - a revelation!

Something simple so when Simon says:¶VWD\�VWURQJ·�society simply sings the same song”

To the theatre the teacher talks tremendously to teach the thespiansthat trials and tribulations of T-Pain are treacheroustreason-tongued track tapers are testing

Usunequivocally unfaithful underdogs are underestimating usunderstating ususing utterances undercutting unityus

Versus vehemently vain ventriloquistsvirtually viral vehicles verbally vetoing victoryvocalists vitalise vocab

34

With wise words weathered and wrinklywe want wisdom within the Westwarriors with weapons well weighted and widespread!

We want an

X-ray of xenophobic

Youthyammering Yankee yabberY-generation please just yabber youwith

Zeal zap zany zealotsand zealously zigzag alphabetsfrom Zakynthos to Zaire to the zoo in Zagreb

A to Zed

ƊƨнƱƮƳ�²�+HOOR��*RRGE\H

35

KALEIDOSCOPES

I remembermy parents once read me a story and bought me a kaleidoscope.

The story was about a boyand the kaleidoscope was one that you could see straight through and use whatever you were looking at to make the patterns

I would take it outside and stare at the sun or point it at a cut on my knee like I was performing surgery

I used to love looking at my parent’s faces when they would get me into trouble they’d turn into confused supernovasinverted universes of angry eyebrows, my mum’s jewellery and my dad’s moustache - cut up into fragments

From then on life came at me from all angles

36

bones were broken grandparents disappeared I was asked to become a giant

and I was taught that my imagination was a fool playing with nothing but broken windows, like they were pieces of ancient puz zles

Jagged edges�����������UHÁHFWLRQV�RI�OLJKW shards of stained glass, It’s the little things in life that matter.

So now I throw pebbles onto pages and play hopscotch with memories hoping the right ones will stick

+DYH�\RX�HYHU�GRQH�WKDW"decided on which memories to keep so that in the future����������������������\RX·OO�EH�PRUH�KDSS\�ZLWK�\RXU�SDVW"I remember being told that each drop of water we siphas passed through every single human that has ever lived that has ever taken breath

our bodies are mostly droplets of ancient historycurrents of calamity, tsunamis of circumstance, springs of inspiration.

37

The Pharaohs of Egypt used to say: ϡϥ�ϱεέΏ�ϡϥ�ϡϱϩ�ϝϥϱϝ�ϝίϡ�ϱέΝω�Εϥϯ

“whoever drinks from the Nile, will always return”

So as I grow may this river inside me, clean melike ashes to the wind

smoke billowing through my canopy sand along my brim

Shards of stained glass

My mother remembers me as a one year old, singing to myself…KXPPLQJ�LQ�P\�SOD\�SHQ�ZLWK�P\�ÀQJHUWLSV�FRYHUHG�LQ�P\�own used nappy,�ZDV�SDLQWLQJ�WKH�ZDOO�ZLWK�P\�ÀUVW�HYHU�PDVWHUSLHFH

she says I must be an artist at heart

6R�ZKHQ�P\�ORYH�ÀQDOO\�FDPH�WR�PH in our bed a forest grew

and grew until our ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around

And our hearts

38

sailed back over a year in and out of weeks and through a day�����������������������XQWLO�ÀQDOO\�ZH�IHOW�OLNH�ZH�FRXOG�ORRN�HDFK�RWKHU�right in the eyes and say Be. Still. …and it would work

with not so many jagged edges ������������������������������������EXW�UHÁHFWLRQV�RI�RXU�RZQ�KHDUWV�She smelled like the crushing of crystals on the rocks of self-love

Clear, but thickening the wind. “l’amore e com’e’ la luna” she said “quando non cresce, cala”

“Love is like the moon it is only ever either growing stronger or fading.” So she set off into the forest����������������ZKHUH�ÀIW\�EHGWLPH�VWRU\�KLJK�EXLOGLQJV� cast shadows all over her naked body

she set off into the forest where the f i l a m e n t in her heart glowed brighter with each step from our edge

39

she set off into the forestwhere one man’s outback, is another woman’s in front.Where one woman’s wilderness, is another man’s home.

So she never really spoke to meshe just heard me in her dreamsand ta l k ed to me in light ZKLOH�,�OLFNHG�KHU�ÀODPHQW�FOHDQ

I was hoping to be a natural mana tree trunk or a wavea spider in her web encased in the geometry of her frame but instead…

+DYH�\RX�HYHU�GRQH�WKDW"

Decided on which memories to keep so that in the futureI remembermy parents once read me a story and bought me a kaleidoscope

So now I listen to the words of the fool and gather the lost pieces to my puz zleI make sure the shards of glass are valued for every hue bad memories for their self-� � UHÁHFWLRQ

40

cuts like bars of lightand I have learned to build a kaleidoscope in my mind

learned that I am a Rubik’s cube a mosaic a geometric pattern a labyrinth I have learnt that I am a cathedralnot a broken windowwe are all tsunamis of circumstance currents of calamity springs of inspiration

No matter how many jagged edgesor shards of stained hearts

I remember… I was asked to become a giant

but where the wild things are…we come in all shapes and sizes

41

SHE WADES KNEE-DEEP

written in Aotearoa for Deborah Jones

Your mother turned her back on your father’s hospital bed and prayed for his safe arrival“The cancer had done enoughto be able to push it over the line” he saidand he decided that today was going to be the day

6R�KH�FOHQFKHG�KLV�WRHV�DQG�ÀVWV�closed his eyes and tried his hardest to end itlike he was giving birth to his own death

Your father had to be patient in the end and let life drain from him like a king tide

He said he was excited to see youand that you’d been more successful with this before

:KR�NQRZV�ZKLFK�PHWDSKRU�ZRXOG�EH�WKH�EHVW�IRU�KLP"KohaNazarethGreen stoneTikiRotorua

42

And your simile -Silver fernJesus ofKoruEternityManaia Now, your mother wades knee deepat the beachwhere both yours and your father’s ashes are scatteredwhere they mingle with the bubbleswhere they carve themselves into my nostrils with the scent of every cliff calling me to dive with you

YouGang MemberPeace MakerMountainMonsterComedianCarcassDealer

dealt

43

$QG�LQ�\RXU�UHÁHFWLRQshe wades knee deepshe talks to you in all kinds of silenceshears your wisdom in the crashing of every second wave and your father speaks in every other

but she sees you giving out Communion on Sundaysas she makes her confessions in the back row waiting for you to pick her up by her tears stretch the single wing she has left on her heart DQG�OHW�LW�ÁDS�LQ�FLUFOHV not falling but laying dormant on the stack of love letters you wrote to us each one a blade

things falls backwards up mountains when mothers lose their childrenevery tree grows into the earth with its roots to climb her cups of tea boil frozen

so she wades knee deep

She’s just happy the water level has fallen somewhere below her lungs I tell her I’ll get a tattoo for you

44

but there and then I decide not to have a tombstone peppered on my skin in remembrance, so as to make it easier to forget.

So I walk into the water with her, I wade knee deep

I wash my face and hair with you,bend down � � � DQG�VZDOORZ�\RXU�UHÁHFWLRQ��

Twice

Koha - gift, offering

7LNL���D�ÀJXUH�LQ�0DRUL�3RO\QHVLDQ�FXOWXUH�XVXDOO\�PDGH�RI�FDUYHG�JUHHQVWRQH

Rotorua - town in the North Island of New Zealand/Aotearoa

Koru - a spiral shape based on the shape of a new unfurling silver fern frond symbolizing new life, strength, growth and peace

0DQDLD���D�ÀJXUH�XVXDOO\�GHSLFWHG�DV�KDYLQJ�WKH�KHDG�RI�D�ELUG�DQG�WKH�ERG\�RI�D�man. Traditionally believed to be the messenger between the earthly mortals and the domain of the spirits; its symbol is used to guard against evil

45

SCARS

for Cristine Cuttaia

In the cityscars fall upon us without warningthrough debilitating accidentsacrimonious attacksand love

And to feel better in the morningwe are reborn through self-hateand an impossible escapeto another love

Left screaming at the gods for inventing painwe continue sharpening our bladesand blaming ourselvesand that love

%XW�,�EHOLHYH�ZH�DUH�EOHVVHG�ZLWK�WKH�LQQHU�UHÁH[HV�IRU�initiationto gain scars

46

I believe our humanity asks us to be tornand shattered and graced with razors

The brain is a muscle and muscles must be damaged to grow strong¶7KDW�ZKLFK�GRHV�QRW�NLOO�PH·we’ve known that old adage for so long so scarbut rip your wound so open so wideyou walk as if inside outso your heart sits on top of your ribcage proudand is no longer just worn on one of your sleeves every nowand then kid me with your kidneysbecome known as a liverwear your guts like a scarfso you’re never known to shiverdeliver your soulso you don’t need to speak ityou just draw diagrams with your diaphragm and lungsso your stance handsomely lands upon the tips of their tongues

Scarget your guilt amputatedprecious pretences surgically removedjealousies scalpedso your intestine’s true intentions shine and protrude

47

Prove your intelligence with your skeletona bone through the noseso they know that what you know lives in your bones and it shows

use your own skin to make a drum to beatyour hair the strings on mandolins to make it strum and sing of yourScar until you’re covered in scratchesuntil the scratches get so dense you’re covered in patternsthen scratch at the patterns until there’s no space in betweenuntil you’re so covered in scars that it looks like you’re clean

Then scar your pages with your stationerybut don’t you dare stay stationarymoveleave track marks on every page you choose to lay your

scars

48

THE NEW CRUSADES

Do you know how war goes?Feeding on the lost soulsDo you speak in Morse code?Or do you speak for man?Have you seen the new day?Killing’s on the news pageand we’re all in this crusadewhile we live on black man’s land

They say that it’s hocus-pocusbut I know that they’re overdosingon posters opposed to hopeand supposed to denote the popeas a post-colonial local

49

They’re loaded with quotes from the BibleKing Solomon’s own survivalI jot it in pen, my saliva’smore salty than all of the eyesof the children of mothers who’ve diedin attacks from Afghanistan troopswith their battle camp bootsand a pack of canned soupin the back of their troop carrierpacked to the roof with a vat of C-2their jacket their crewthere’s a new king but it is their coup

New governmentthe judge and jury love itthey put the truth in the cupboardso the public won’t discover ityou think you’ll uncoverbut you never really touch itand it’s proof that we’re all puppetsin this Punch and Judy covenant

50

Love can’t get enough of itmore loving for the sufferersthe lovemaking’s a breakfrom all the cussing and the hustlingULJKW"all the tussling and busting at nightcrime and punishmentwell it’s rhyme and nourishment time

Do or dieDUH�\RX�UHDGLQJ�EHWZHHQ�WKH�OLQHV"It is no man’s landif you stand between me and a mica meaningful lifeso let this genius writeit’s like I’m Jesus Houdini and a genie combinedwhen I’m reading the signs

So while you whineI turn water to inkI’m all talk for the causethat’s how I force them to thinkthey want me to go to war

51

like Immortal Techniquebut I’m not immortal, manI’m just a mere mortal who speaks

They say it’s the pen versus the swordbut that is so boringbecause our pens are just our compassesand may we always be exploring

So while we picket signs for our rightsand try to Occupy the streetswe all must be very careful how we justifyD�ÀJKWfor peace

52

LEADERS

from ‘Leaders RMX’ with L-Fresh the Lion and Farid Farid

I’m just trying to provide some leadershipinspired to be aligned with leadersengaged in a dialogue with their demons

And shining through the right allegiancesno pretencethey don’t pretend to be geniusesjust walk the talk in their speeches it’s Médecins Sans Frontières���'RFWRUV�ÀJKWLQJ�GLVHDVHVEmmanual Jal travelling the whole world ÀJKWLQJ�IRU�SHDFH�it’s just some of our leaders can’t even leave the streetsthey need to compete to be feeding their seedsthey’ve got no time for dreamsWKH\�ÀJKW�GD\�DQG�QLJKW�IRU�VRPHWKLQJ�WR�HDW

And to dodge the policeand watch all the lucky ones leaveand not let it stop their beliefthere are no greater leaders than these

Times haven’t changeddangerous minds lay isolated

53

stars align and constellations lead to the same old conversations Land

The constant craving of man to take by forcedemands the sands of time be laden with land mines and replaced by portsresourcesare way too importantthe labour’s importedfake leaders drag us to war by calling the poor the terrorist forces

Real leaders leave a space for us to walk forward beside themreal leaders won’t drag you down just so their status can be heightenedreal leaders don’t police your speech when they decide it’s wrongreal leaders lead us all to freedom and keep us strong long after they’re gone

54

DIASPORA

ƈ�·ƲƦƬ�ƌƪƪнƣƠ�Ʈ��Ơ��Ʈхư�ƫƮƳ�ƲƯƠƢƮхƣƦƱƤ��ƌрƫƠƨ��ƯфƱƴƳƢƠư�ƭƤƯрƥƷƫƤƬƮư�ƯƤ!!ƗпƯƠƬƤ�ƣƯфƫƮ�ƫƤ�ƲƦ�ƫƠƬн�ƫƮƳ�ƫƨƩƯпƈ�ф�ƋƨƠƩƮ�Ʋф��ƓƮƬфƪƨƧƮ�ƩƠƨ�ƗƠƯƠƣƤрƱƨ

��ƑƠƪф�ƲƠƭрƣƨ�ƩƠƨ�ƩƠƪп�ƲхƵƦ!!�Ơ�фƗƤƪƮ�фƬƬƦƱƮ�ƩƠƨ�ƘфƣƮ�ƬƦƱрƣхƬƠƫƦ�ƱƲƦƬ�ƶƳƵп�ƩƠƨ�ƲƱƨƢƢнƬƤư�ƩƠƯƣƨоưф�ƮƳ��нƫƤ�ƩƠрƫƤ�ƪƨơнƬƨ

Fate wentthis way then thatit swayed like the boat they saved so long to catchlives packedcases stackedlooking backblack in that they knew they’d have to re-enact the Iliad

Ill, sad and already homesickdenying the fact they were leaving their homesjust to be homelessa small stash that they’d never get home within love they interact but they know that it’s hopeless

55

They see the harbour and it’s as cold as everso they bothhold my mother by her hands togetherso they canÀQG�WKH�VWUHQJWK�WR�VD\�WKHLU�EROGHVW�оƪƠ��and drop down on the streets with a soul to set up anew cityD�QHZ�OLIH���ƣƨƠƱ�ƮƯн

Keep tight pride is needed inside our heartsthese acts would teach me of the pastƩƠƨ�ƲƮƳư�ƪоƬƤ���ƩƠƪп�ƲхƵƦ�ф�ƮƳ�ƩƠƨ�ƠƬ��Ơư!!

From Greece my grandfather sang“I am a refugee who has been uprooted”they took to the streets with my mother still a childfrom Diakopto, Monolithos and Paradisi

“Bon voyage and good luck” fromthe Peloponnese and Rhodes Islandstrength of spiritand gypsy heartswherever we go we burn frankincense

оƪƠ���FRPH�RQ�

ƣƨƠƱ�ƮƯн���GLDVSRUD

ƩƠƨ�ƲƮƳư�ƪоƬƤ���ƩƠƪп�ƲхƵƦ�ф�ƮƳ�ƩƠƨ�ƠƬ��Ơư!!���DQG�WKH\�WHOO�WKHP�´JRRG�OXFN�wherever you may go”

56

/8&.��ƚхƵƦ�

They told him he would make it�Ơ��Ʈх�GRQ·W�VHH�WKH�HQGthey told him “take a ticket”say a goodbye to friendshe kissed his mama sweetnessbefore he left for Egypthis mama’s my papa’s papa’s papa’s mamait’s deep shit

So deep I hardly speak ita little fear in pocketsa little silver locketa lot of tears up in them socketsthose diamonds from the eyealigning stars upon the nightand frightened by the lonely lightthat’s shining through the smoked horizon$OH[DQGULD��ZDV�RQO\�MXVW�WKH�ÀUVW�VWRSfrom Egypt came a month at seasent like mail to a post boxlike a letter with no envelope

57

just enveloped by the rainthe tears of ink drainreplace the canvas on the frame

They landed on the islandno welcome note or hugthe sky as grey as Melbournethe earth as red as bloodƓƤƲƠƬнƱƲƤư�RQ�WKH�RFHDQ�bags packed for the nighta night turned into lifeI return to make it right

I throw my luck upon the groundso she can feel the earthgive her thorns to wear - it hurtsso we remember birthZUDS�KHU�ERG\�XS�LQ�ÁDPHVjust to drop her in the seamy luck and me, we argue over memories

They walked from village morningfor days to get to boatthey left from olive treesin a puff of shisha smoke

That place from which they camedangerous because of snakesuntil they brought the deer and they became the symbol of

58

the stateItalians colonisedand the Turks, they’d been there toocrusaders built cities on cities of the ancient few

So when my people leftnever to returnthey’d sing them songs of magnetsthat pull them on a search

And so the greatest of the greatlucky country, cutting treesman to manlike he was slicing nationalitiesin a country of animals he’d never seenD�VQDNH�IRXQG�KLP�DQG�SXOOHG�P\��Ơ��Ʈх�WR�KLV�NQHHV

I throw my luck upon the groundso she can feel the earthgive her thorns to wear - it hurtsso we remember birthZUDS�KHU�ERG\�XS�LQ�ÁDPHVjust to drop her in the seamy luck and me, we argue over memories

�Ơ��Ʈх���JUDQGIDWKHU��RU�LQ�WKLV�FDVH��JUHDW�JUDQGIDWKHU·V�EURWKHU

ƓƤƲƠƬнƱƲƤư��PLJUDQWV

59

WHAT HAVE WE BECOMEƘƤ�¶ƌƪƪƦƬƤư"

:KDW�KDYH�ZH�EHFRPH�VLQFH�ZH�VDLG���ԜƵƨ�!!ƘƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư�"DQG�ZKDW�LV�LW�ZH�KDYH�VDLG�´<HVµ�WR",I�RXU�-HVXV�PHW�D�0XVOLP�PDQ��ƯƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư�ZRXOG�KH�VD\��´<RX�DUH�*RG·V�VRQ�DQG�,�EOHVV�\RXµ"

:KR�DUH�ZH�WR�WKLQN�ZH�DUH�EHWWHU"GLG�ZH�QRW�VXIIHU�7XUNLVK�UXOH"did we not learn that to hold a woman underwaterLV�WR�DOVR�VXIIRFDWH�WKH�KHDUW�RI�WKH�FUXHO"

2U�GLG�ZH�VD\���ԜƵƨ�!!�ƯƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư�WR�PXFK�PRUH�ZLWKLQ�RXUVHOYHV"GLG�RXU�ƴƨƪƮƭƤƬрƠ�WXUQ�WR�[HQRSKRELDZKHQ�ZH�WRRN�DUPV�DQG�JDYH�WKHP�KHOO"

'R�ZH�QRW�NQRZ�KRZ�LW�IHHOV�WR�EH�YLFWLPLVHG"GLG�ZH�QRW�VXIIHU�DW�WKH�RWKHU·V�KDQGV"so why do we want to victimiseDQG�¶GR�XQWR�RWKHUV·�DV�WKH\�GLG�XQWR�XV�DJDLQ"

60

'LG�ZH�QRW�VXUYLYH�ZHOO�LQ�WKH�FDYHV��ƯƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư�"RXWODVWLQJ�WKH�KDUGHVW�RI�WLPHV"GLG�ZH�QRW�VLQJ�DQG�GDQFH�DQG�SUD\��ƯƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư�QR�PDWWHU�ZKDW�WKH�SDLQ�ZDV�LQ�RXU�OLYHV"

Did we not collect the olives and grapes and drink their juice DQG�EULQH"Did our wine not taste as sweet as the kingdoms we worked WR�XQGHUPLQH"

:HUH�RXU�OLYHV�QRW�DV�IXOO�DV�WKHLUV���Ơ��Ʈх"ZDV�RXU�FXOWXUH�QRW�DV�UHDO"ZKHQ�WKH\�KDG�XV�E\�WKH�WKURDWV���Ơ��Ʈхtell me we could still feel

Tell me that we still had that somethingand in the future we still willtell me our culture is not only based on whether we are occupiedor on who it was we killed

Tell me my people are strong enoughnot to be trapped by our thoughts and mindsstill fearful and angry at an internal enemywe should have left so far behind

Tell me my identity doesn’t dependon whether or not I hate a Turkand that our God is wise and strong enoughto welcome him in my church

61

:KDW�KDYH�ZH�EHFRPH��ƯƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư�"has the wisdom of our eldersturned to an arrogance of being better than the restZKHQ�\RX�FXW�RII�WKH�UHVW�RI�WKH�ZRUOG��ƯƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư�you cut your head off from your chest

Slaves manned our democracieswars have littered our livesI can no longer pray at the Acropolisbecause the church says she no longer sings my ties

%XW�RXU�ƤƩƩƪƦƱрƠ�LV�LQ�VR�PXFK�SDLQ��ƯƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư�my priest struggles to connectto break through his contingent’s prejudicesDQG�VKRZ�¶WKH�RWKHU·�VRPH�UHVSHFW

%XW�,�GDQFH�DQG�,�VLQJ�DQG�,�SUD\��ƯƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư�I drink my juice and brine,�EXUQ�ƪƨơнƬƨ�RQ�P\�DOWDUI allow my tongue to speak of lifeQR�ORQJHU�GRHV�D�¶7XUN·�RU�VWRU\�RI�D�SDLQIXO�SDVWhave the power to hurt my life

,�DP�VRUU\�ƢƨƠƢƨн�DQG��Ơ��Ʈх�ƫƮƳbut to be a victim one must victimiseI’m not prepared to continue the criesnor does it do us justice to act exactly like those we despise

62

We are our only enemies nowthe only one that ever existsbut if we keep pointing at the otherour inner enemies we will always miss

7KLV�LV�ZKDW�ZDU�GRHV�ƯƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư�ƈ�ф�ƲƮƬ��фƪƤƫƮthis is what we have becomethe victims always loseand the winners always think they’ve won

ƘƤ�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư���<RX�*UHHNV ԜƵƨ���1R ƴƨƪƮƭƤƬрƠ���KRVSLWDOLW\ �Ơ��Ʈх���JUDQGIDWKHU ƢƨƠƢƨн���JUDQGPRWKHU ƤƩƩƪƦƱрƠ���FKXUFK ƪƨơнƬƨ���IUDQNLQFHQVH ƈ�ф�ƲƮƬ��фƪƤƫƮ���IURP�WKH�ZDU >5HIHUV�WR�¶ƖƵƨ�GD\·���D�QDWLRQDO�KROLGD\�LQ�*UHHFH�FHOHEUDWLQJ�ZKHQ�*UHHN�3ULPH�Minister Ioannis Metaxas said “No” to an ultimatum given by Italian dictator Mussolini during World War II.]

63

YIAYIA

My Grandmothergrew up between two wars in Greece lost her brother Christo to the Germansand named my mother Christina after him

5DUH�IRU�D�*UHHN�ZRPDQ��VKH�KDG�D�GLYRUFH�DW�ÀIW\and has lived for thirty years by herself with his photos still in the spare roomshe is a green thumb

she makes cordial from her own mandarinsdrinks tea from her own chamomile bushand picks tomatoes from her garden whenever I say I feel like a ƱƠƪнƲƠshe hardly went to school but one day when talking of my time at University and admiring all three different types of basil she has growing in her garden

64

She says to me:“Luka, eat two leaves basil every daygood for the bloodgood for the brainthey don’t teach that University”

And when my brother Eliah says to her:“You know Yiayia - you know a lot; you’re really smart.”

She always replies:“Yes Eliah, I’m a very education!”

So recently I decided to ask my Yiayia what she thought about racismand whether it was OK for some Greeks to still hate the Turks for what they did to us in the pastand she said:

“Just because some people naughty, doesn’t mean you throw the rest in the rubbish”

Her name is Katerina Batounasbut her maiden name is SarandavgaSarandavga�OLWHUDOO\�PHDQV�¶IRUW\�HJJV·and as the story goes one of her great-grandfathers was challenged by another villager to see if he could eat an omelette made with forty eggs without getting sick

65

Anyone that knows my appetite will know that I’m proud to say he won that bet DQG�VR�KLV�QLFNQDPH�¶IRUW\�HJJV·�then turned into the family name and was passed down the generationsto my Yiayia

and today it’s her birthdayso I tell her what we always do��ƔƠ�ƤƩƠƲƮƱƲпƱƤƨư!!�¶0D\�\RX�OLYH�WR�RQH�KXQGUHG·but she is 83so instead of thanking me she says“Oh God me!$�KXQGUHG"�No thank you, I have enoughmaybe couple more years - then I go to sleep”

Where will you go to sleep Yiayia�"

´,Q�WKH�FHPHWHU\���,�DOUHDG\�,�EX\�D�¶OLOOL·�KRXVH�WKHUH�

I don’t afraid!”

66

Until then she will keep calling me to see if I am too cold when I’m visiting Melbournekeep stopping me from doing the dishes after she cooks us a mealNHHS�WU\LQJ�WR�VOLS�PH�D�ÀIW\�GROODU�QRWH�every time I visitand keep telling me:

“Eat two leaves basil everydaygood for the bloodgood for the brain “

They don’t teach you that at University

ƱƠƪнƲƠ���VDODG

67

ATHENA

ƈƧƦƬнthe goddess my ancestors once worshippedstill sits perched upon the columns of the Acropolis make no mistake

The circling bird that would sit on Socrates’ shoulderwhisper into the ear of Pythagorasand who wiped the tears from mygreat, great, great, great, great, great, great, greatgrandmother’s facecame to me right after my Trojan WarDV�,�ODLG�XSRQ�WKH�RFHDQ�ÁRRUcovered by the weight of my own tears

By a crevice of brothers who I’ve lost who should now be mena shipwreck of another I may never trust againand that barnacle-encrusted rubble of a lovethat should have never come to an endshe came to me

She loomed as large as my own painspread her wings to be the size of my own faith

68

and motioned me to take from herthat which would now be used to inscribe my own name

She closed her eyes as I grasped the featherand hardly quivered as I ripped the quill from her chest“Take it” she saidand as I did I saw the millions of ships that she’d witnessedthick with my fellow countrymen soldiers and piratesall writing notes home to their wives on lines of papyrusI saw Homer writing The Iliad�DQG�ƖƣхƱƱƤƨƠƗƯƮƴпƲƦư�ƎƪрƠư�ZULWLQJ�ORYH�OHWWHUV�WR�0HGHDƈƵƨƪƪоƠư�UHDGLQJ�VFUROOV�WR�WKH�PLQLRQVand Plato just taking a note before he voiced an opinionI saw them allAnd at that momentApollo stood forthtook the quill from my handtook the black sticky ink from the most ancient squid and ÀOOHG�LWand said: “May this ink come to your defenceDV�LW�KDV�IRU�WKLV�ROG�VTXLG�DJDLQVW�HYHU\�ÀVKHUPDQwho has ever lived,as it has for every anarchist

69

IUHHGRP�ÀJKWHU�DQG�DFWLYLVWWKH\·OO�WHOO�\RX�¶DFWLRQV�VSHDN�ORXGHU�WKDQ�ZRUGV·until your words make people act like this”

And at that moment.LQJ�ƑƷƬƱƲƠƬƲрƬƮư�VWRRG�IRUWK�and sang:

��ƝƯƨƱƲҳư�ƈƬоƱƲƦ�ƤƩ�ƬƤƩƯцƬ�ƧƠƬнƲƷ�ƧнƬƠƲƮƬ��ƠƲпƱƠư�ƩƠƨ�ƲƮƨư�ƤƬ�ƲƮƨư�ƫƬпƫƠƱƨ�ƥƷүƬ�ƵƠƯƨƱнƫƤƬƮư!!

��ƒƮƳƩнư�ƝƠƯƠƪнƫ�Ʈư!! he said

´<RXU�QDPH�PHDQV�¶OLJKW��MR\��LOOXPLQDWHG·\RXU�ÀUVW�QDPH�LV�WKH�VDPH�QDPH�DV�WKH�ÀUVW�VDLQWZKR�SDLQWHG�WKH�ÀUVW�LFRQV�WKDW�OLQH�RXU�FKXUFKHVand are worshipped every day

You shall not be afraid!”

And at that momentthe ocean began to fallthe waves crashing above me began to look like clouds againand I began to feel something like proud again

70

All of my ancestors stood forth and said to me:“Luka, write with this quillso that when your great, great, great, great, great, great, great granddaughteris in pain and needs to be freedmay you then come and stand with usso we all can give her exactly what she needsMay our air in your lungs speak new words with your tongue��ƙпƩƷ��нƬƷ!!stand up son!You have onlyjust begun”

ƈƧƦƬн���$WKHQDƖƣхƱƱƤƨƠ���The OdysseyƗƯƮƴпƲƦư�ƎƪрƠư���(OLMDK�WKH�3URSKHWƈƵƨƪƪоƠư���$FKLOOHV Christ is risen from the dead, by death He conquered death, and to those in the gravesHe granted life! ƒƮƳƩнư�ƝƠƯƠƪнƫ�Ʈư���/XND�+DUDODPSRX ƙпƩƷ��нƬƷ���6WDQG�XS

71

CENTRE PLACE

0HOERXUQH�3RHWU\�0DS��$XGLR�*UDIÀWL�&RPPLVVLRQ

ƈƫнƬ��ƈƫнƬ��Outside the alchemist at the crossways of the tidesacross the cavernous divide of the coastline lies a passageway of passion where we all collide

Your own boredom is about to commit suicide as you traverse through the universe’s own small intestinethrough the belly of the beastthe marketplace, the cardamom, the cinnamon, in the colours of Matisse…Centre Placethe citadels sliver of hopein the depths of the centre of her earthwhere foreign tongues who spoke frankincense and myrrhnow speak in frankness as they lay submerged

Cross into this mudslide of cultural dividesof course the southern corner of the Majorca building has been Jack London colonised

72

but that is where the takeover endsand we transcend into fusion

The Greek makes the best crepes at Aix - No illusionThe ground loves to ache from being staked with high heels - AbsolutionThe healthy eat fat steaks and pieces of cake - No glutenThe congregation break bread and talk of sex - No CommunionItalians quote ConfuciusParisian lights enlighten our delusionEveryone’s sexy set against the pollutionand the cigarette smoke and the light combine to make the whole place look translucent

:DWFK�WKH�EHDXWLIXO�ZRPHQ�DQG�PHQ�ÁRDW�SDVW�LQ�D�thundercloudas the claps of lightning in our eyes lay shrouded by the other soundsJust how underground we are gets hard to tellbut you can take the gate to the right and climb upstairs into Hell

We’re down the bottomthe deepest point of the pathwhere the holy trinity is a coffee, a cigarette and a spark

This is where a homeless man only asked me for a pen and some power to change

73

and drew a watch on his wrist and wrote the word ¶1RZ·�on its face

And I did the same

It’s where the whole world congregateson the left, in the last cornerwhere Origin call-centre workerswatch the pilgrims cross over the border

so crossBut as you step through those gates into the arcadewalk downstairs even deeper into the cavesinto the centre of our existencewhere all languages are made

It is the beginningwhen you speakit’s like your own Big Bang

Once we speak we are bornso after feasting on the perfumes of this kaleidoscopic sandstormgo and choose a script from the cryptAnd pick your next life’s new form

74

Ɠ�ƯнơƮ�ƱƮƳ�оƩƠƬƤư�ƫƨƠ�ơфƪƲƠƩƠƨ��ƮƳ�ƧƠ��Ơư�ƲцƯƠ��нƯƤ�ƫƨƠ�ƢƪцƱƱƠƮ�ƵнƯƮư�ƱƤ��ƤƯƨƫоƬƤƨ�пƢƠƨƬƤ�ƩƠƨ�ƬƠ�ƱƤ�ƩƠƪн

ƤрƱƠƱƲƤ�нƬƧƯƷ�Ʈƨ�ƲƮƳ�ƩфƱƫƮƳƤрƫƠƱƲƤ�нƬƧƯƷ�Ʈƨ�ƲƮƳ�ƩфƱƫƮƳ

ƈƫнƬ��ƈƫнƬ�We are the people of the world

ƈƫнƬ����0HUF\� Bravoyou’ve taken a strollZKHUH�ZLOO�\RX�JR�QRZ"take a languagethe ferryman is waitinggo and be wellyou are people of the worldwe are people of the world

75

KILLING TIME

featuring Candice Monique

Can’t you see?time isn’t of the essenceyou can’t measure love or lessonswith hours, minutes, days or seconds… no!Life cannot be told by timeZKDW·V�LQÀQLWH�ZLOO�QHYHU�GLHand life goes on while we’re not keeping timeso it’s time for time to die

Minute that I feel this beatminute that I feel the needminute that I need to hustleminute that I need to speakminute that we let this startminute that I feel my heartminute that you’re feeling meis the minute that we get to spark

Minute that you’re feeling Lessonminute that I’m feeling blessedminute that we get connectedis the minute that we get respect

Sixty minutes / tickthey consistently kill us / tick

76

the minutes diminish they pillage the villager’s will and their pillars of hope / tickI never got into that rope / tickI never got into that boat / tickI mentally ever got better and never let enemies get in my road / tick

A lie

The truth is I just died a million timesbut in my mind I let the devil stay disguised in God’s design

Tick ticktickemotional momentsalone with my only opponentjust the ghost of meI’m close to implodingsupposed to be focussedso I spray my own cologne for atonementand hope it exposesthe road that I’ve chosen - Moses

77

Because the truth is I’ll survivewhen my gods and my devils shake hands and toast to lifewhen my angels and my demons love each other through my eyesand we never bow down to the father they call ¶7LPH·

//

Hours that I spent alonewishing for my time to gohours I spent on the roadhoping on a sign for homehours I spent trapped in thoughtWho I could beWho I was:KDW·V�P\�PLVVLRQ":KDW·V�P\�FDXVH"power taken hours lost

Hours I spent on my missionwishing on my time to glistenhours I spent in conscriptionÀJKWLQJ�RQ�WKH�ULJKW�LQVFULSWLRQV

Sixty minutes / tick%XW�WLPH�LV�LQÀQLWH���WLFNthe ticks don’t even mean shit

78

it’s kind of ridiculousWKH�ZD\�WKDW�ZH�ÀW�WR�WKLVdissidents bliss in the release from this prisonthey say we’re killing timebut time is killing usand she’ll never be leaving no witnesses

We grow oldbut the older the betterthe colder the weather the better we learn to weather thestorm and hold it together

Never being handcuffed by a clock on my wristand I will never be addicted to watching the watches and clicks

They say time is of the essencebut that essence is ussunrise sunsetthat’s all we need - that’s enoughwe time our whole lives to a paradigm we don’t trustwe don’t realise that that paradigm was designed by us $QG�WKH�ZRUG�¶FORFN·�comes from the French word for bellEXW�ZKHQ�ZLOO�WKH�EHOO�WROO�IRU�WLPH"I guess only time can tell

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//

Now that I’ve changed my lifenow that I’ve made it rightnow I can play the dicenow just in case I dienow, not the past or futurenow I see past illusionnow I don’t cast assumptionsnow I only see solutionsnow I am a present manthe only gift I understandis the present of the presentRQO\�¶QRZ·�LV�WKH�WLPH�DW�KDQG

No more minutes tickno more hours called a dayno more yearstaking monthstaking weekstaking my faith

Let’s go back to the basicsthe earth revolves with the moonthe sun joins the twogravity makes it smoothoceans rise and fallbabies learn to crawl

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winter, spring, summer, fallseasons change - so do we alland the poets record it allpeople die and are kingsPHVVLDKV�WR�ÀHQGVin the silence I dreamthat if Christ knew His life would mean we’d count every secondand His death marked the startHe’d discount it in a second

Every culture in the world had its sense of timethe West erected Big Ben like its sense was mineit’s time for the rest to connect and question whythe truth’s in the momentthe rest is memoriesand lies

Chorus co-written by Candice Monique

81

HISTORY BOOKS

I’m sick of hearing about Captain Cookhe was not the worst of the bunchcheck in your history bookshe had orders to show Indigenous people respectit’s just a pity that he landed with a cargo full of convicts

Who didn’t care about respectWKH\�ZHUH�ÀJKWLQJ�WR�VXUYLYHthey came from a city where rats could eat you aliveand they were full of pain themselvesthey’d just spent months in a celltrapped with chains and gangrenous healthand brains full of hate

$QG�WKDW�KDWH�VSUHDG�OLNH�D�ZLOGÀUHand it they took it out on every black man, woman and childtheir brains were full of Darwin’s theories of evolutionit formed the basis of executionsand that’s the basis for this artistic revolutionbecause no man is better than any other man or more advancedlook what we’ve done to this place and tell me we’re more advanced

No we are not we were wrongthat’s the sound of change my friends

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)RU�WKH�ÀUVW�KXQGUHG�\HDUV�ZH�KDG�D�IURQWLHU�ODQGVFDSHwith no laws to follow or cops to enforce a mandateand by the time there were laws and things became illegalthe government gave the public guns to kill Aboriginal peopleEHFDXVH�WKH\�ZHUH�¶VTXDWWLQJ·�RQ�SULVWLQH�ZKLWH�IDUPODQGand now we’ve all got richwe can sit and judge them from our armchairs

7KH�VDPH�WKLQJ�KDSSHQHG�ZLWK�WKH�1D]LV�GLGQ·W�LW"where my ancestors were marched up a mountain and pushed off a cliffthat’s what happened to the ancestors of these Aboriginal kidsso now we make music just to share a common reason to liveand if an N.T. teacher doesn’t care about what their history is\RX�WKLQN�WKH\¶UH�JRQQD�JR�WR�FODVV�DQG�OLVWHQ�WR�VKLW"

You better listen to thisbecause hip-hop and poetry are the only places a real education can still exist

N.T. - Northern Territory, Australia

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COINS OF LANGUAGE

National Gallery of Victoria and Melbourne Overload Poetry Festival Commission

$V�FRLQV�Á\�RYHU�WKHLU�KHDGV�OLNH�EDWV�LQ�VXPPHUrivers swell to bursting as though the ground cries

Cicadas warn the people of the dangersbecause nothing is more terrifying than to have your language scraped from your lungsand to be forced to use your oppressors’ words to articulate to them the depth of what they have done

“Always was, always will be Aboriginal land”could be translated into all of this nation’s Indigenous languages so it stays rooted in the earthbefore histories haunt us like ghosts but have no way to tell us who they arebefore whole libraries commit suicideand come back to tap us on the shoulder but cannot tell us their names

84

/DQJXDJH��D�ÀQLWH�UHVRXUFH�LV�EHLQJ�H[WUDFWHG�IURP�children like zincletters like shards of leadwords like goldsentences of silverparagraphs of iron oreDreaming story uraniumproverb purple opaleach lung a shaft each rib a beammore blood pumps new reserveseach vein a seameach tongue a pickeach eureka a dreameach shovel a pencileach stalactite a peneach voice-pipe a tunneleach truck a letter senteach shipment a vocabularyeach elder a mountaineach son a new reservetears like diamondsevery lament a crackevery war-cry an explosion each death another shaft collapsed

DQG�ZKLOH�WKH\�VOHHS��FRLQV�Á\�RYHU�WKHLU�KHDGV�OLNH�EDWV�LQ�summerprecious stones are sold and resold

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and dug up and resold and dug up and resold And more cuts are opened up and more cuts are resold and dug deeper and resold and dug deeper and cut up and opened up and dug deeper And shifted and sorted and melted down and shipped to the portand shifted and sorted and melted down and shipped to the port and shifted and sorted and melted down and shipped to the port And moored and measured and made clean moored and measured and made clean and moored and measured and made clean to beplaced in white frames and encased in a glass placed in white frames and encased in glass placed in white frames and encased in glass or on white walls for the upper class

Open cut mines pillaging raw lungsthe money pours through white poresBlack tongues lick at the land like a salted lakejust to get a taste of their own dirt

And as they sleepWKH�FRLQV�Á\�RYHU�WKHLU�KHDGV�OLNH�EDWV�LQ�VXPPHU

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ELEMENTAL SPECTRUM

The original peoplehold the kaleidoscopic heart of this landboth mirror and windowcoloured by geographypermeated by pigmentlaced with luminescencecarved with veins of river redbronzed as hawksilver of river gumgold of wattle, ochre, sunPDXYH�OLSV�OLNH�ÁRZHUVbathed in orange sunset

one young male grey kangaroo with tail

National Gallery of Victoria and Melbourne Overload Poetry Festival Commission

87

darts across the countrysidehe sees purpleorange redyellow purple green silver green mauve purple red orange red blackgreen green green yellow purplehe bullets over the crimson earthand under the blue white white blue white white blue white blue white white blue white whiteyellow white blue

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He stops at the slither of a snakeYoung Grey is frozen by the incandescent canvas of the impressionistDV�WKH�VQDNH·V�FKDPHOHRQ�VNLQ�ÁLFNHUV�it switches betweenblack necklace on red scalesblack necklace on red scales Black stripe sepia black stripe sepiablack stripe sepia0XVWDUG�\HOORZ�DQG�PLGQLJKW�ÁHFNPXVWDUG�\HOORZ�DQG�PLGQLJKW��ÁHFN�Ivory speared fangs feed poisonous pearls of wisdom into the young greyripped from the wound shiraz droplets splatter onto white ochre

mixing into pink;a blushing memory of the moving image, now still-life.

And the peoplecalled into existence by the Seven Sisterscrafted by the sentientsculpted in sentimentscented in metallic as they talk both star and sand

89

black in bloodJURZQ�DUP\�JUHHQ�VLQFH�ZKLWH�ÁDJV�DUULYHGbut never surrenderedstanding under the same Blue white white blue white white blue white blue white white blue white whiteyellow white blue

Skin of saltEUHDWK�RI�ÀQH�\HOORZholding kaleidoscopic heartsgeometric diamondsÁDZOHVVO\�ERWK�WUDQVSDUHQW�DQG�UHÁHFWLQJboth mirror and windowpermeated by pigmentlaced with luminescenceelemental spectrumArchaeological dig for rainbow

90

IF THIS WAR IS WON

You don’t know you don’t see my pain ’cause we don’t speak we don’t breathe the same and you know it when it’s over ’causethey don’t give a cent about our love

I have seen I have dreamed for change and we have hurt we all have scars and chains but I don’t know if when this war is won if I’ll see the moon or be the sun

He hit the street so hard he passes the guards past the hard labour past all the bars

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he’s past it at last the Pastor tells him “Pass your regards” his heart’s full of scars his father left a bastard like Naslarceny starts and he’s casting his craft harbouring carts the last man to be standing shafting his staff hardly in harm while the rest are in danger he checks out the mirror sees a stranger cursed for life

He hits the street so hard passes the bar past the bartender past all the staffhe starts in the bath ÀQLVKHV�XS�WKH�ODVW�RI�D�ÁDVN�he’s half plastered cigars have got him raspy like Nas faster than Nos on the arse of a car he blows up quick like he’s a part of Hamas

The guards grasp and a glass blasts into shards and it scars a last gasp and the guards cast his arse on the tar

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´:KR·OO�JHW�WKH�ODVW�ODXJK�EDVWDUGV"µ�KH�DVNV�In halfa’ the blast from his car scar the glass and facade the gutter is marred by the blood and the smarts of the guards by the start of March the guards’ fathers are plastering plaques

Hearts at half-mast as the hard-arsed bastard is cuffed behind bars his apartment is dark he’s asking the guards for pardons and heart but he’s hardly in harm he checks out the mirrorsees a stranger cursed for life

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THE FIFTH SEASON

I wrestle with my demonsin the attempt to take controlat midnight WKH�ÀIWK�VHDVRQwhen even the summer’s burning cold

I’ve been staring into mirrorstrying to mine my eyes for goldI guess that’s why I drink these spirits because I’m searching for my soul

I’ve lived upon this dirt dodging cracks in a tangled searchfrankincense has burnt beneath my skinI’ve wished upon the birds

I’ve heard voices in the moonseen their faces in the wavesso when the tides are at their highestthey spray their verses to my page

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I’ve had those oceans rise and fall for meWKH�GRYHV�Á\�LQ�ZLWK�WKH�EDWVI’ve had no-one come to lend a handand hundreds stand to clap So I’ve convinced myself of my own geniusand I’ve hated with a passionevery second word I’ve writtenso my pages read in patterns

I’ve learnt the thin line between speaking and staying silentthere’s no difference between keeping quietand just preaching to the choirs

I am the hopeless and the hopethe spoken and the chokedI’m the place to pray to make it mendDQG�WKH�ZD\�WKDW�LW�ÀUVW�EURNH

I am the message to the rest of us to never look inside unless you’re ready to know your positionin the consciousness of life

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So I am exactly where I want to be and I’ve almost killed myself for the chanceso I hold the responsibility WKDW�FRPHV�ZLWK�ÀQGLQJ�DQVZHUV

ƊƯнƴƷ��ƮƨпƫƠƲƠ�ƱƲƮƬ�пƪƨƮ��������ƪфƢƨƠ��ƯƠƩƲƨƩн����������������ƢƯнƫƫƠƲƠ�ƢƨƠ�ƲƮƳư�ӻƪƪƦƬƤư������ƮƳ�ƣƤƬ�ƫƨƪнƬ·�ƲƠ�ƶоƫƠƲƠ���

ӻƵƮƳƬ�ƩƠƯƣƨоư�����������������ƮƳ�ƣƤƬ�ƴƮơƮхƬƲƠƨ�ƲƠ��ƮƳƪƨн��ƧƠ�ƱƩƮƲцƱƮƳƫƤ�ƲƮƳư�ƩƪоƴƲƤư���ƩƠƨ�ƴƷƬнƭƮƳƫƤ�ƲƠ�ƩƯƳƴн�

I have spoken to the earth in so many different tonguesI’m sure she only knows me from the volume of my lungs

She has spoken in the cloudsI hear similes in the leavesmetaphors in the nowdesires in the breeze

I have listened through my skinosmosis through my tearsI have focused with my bodyher smoke has burnt me crystal clear

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because this search is not a stepping stonea journey or a paththis search is a letting go EDFN�LQWR�WKH�VKDSHV�ZH�ZHUH�ÀUVW�FDVW

Because we all wrestle with our demonsin the attempt to take controlat midnight WKH�ÀIWK�VHDVRQwhen even the summer’s burning cold

We all stare into mirrorstrying to mine our eyes for goldI guess that’s why, sometimes, we drink these spirits because we’re all searching for our souls

I write poems to the sunpractical wordsletters for the Greekswho don’t speak lies Who have hearts that aren’t scared of birdswe will kill the thievesand shout secrets

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THE CONFLUENCE

We met DW�WKH�FRQÁXHQFHwhere my air in your lungs spoke my words with your tongue

Where my hair curled down your facetouched my lips but carried your tastewhere your dress sat on my hipsand my lipstick was your lipswhere your jeans wrapped around my legsand I was on my knees when you needed to beg

Where my hair grew from your poresLike it was your beard on my jawwhere your makeup softened my complexionand your most honest moments felt like my confessions

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:KHUH�\RXU�ÀJXUH�was my bodywhere you made some mistakesVR�,�VDLG�¶6RUU\·

7KH�FRQÁXHQFHZKHUH�WKH�ZRUGV�¶,·�DQG�¶<RX·�became uselessVR�¶,�ORYH�\RX·�just didn’t do itZH�MXVW�VDLG�WKH�ZRUG��¶/RYH·and then sat in the silence to prove it Where my knee under your skin joined my thighs to your shinsand my ankles joined your legs to my feetand we walked the same path where we promised we’d meetWhere your heart under my rib cage beat your blood through my veinsand my veins fed your arms with my reactionsuntil we couldn’t tell the difference between us in passion

7KH�FRQÁXHQFHwhere my lids covered your eyesand your teeth clenched in my mouthwhere my sights were all you sawso my fears became your doubts

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Where your left hand joined my right when we came to pray to keep this love aliveZKHUH�\RXU�KDQGV�GHÀQLWHO\�FXW�P\�ZULVWV�but I still called that suicide

7KH�FRQÁXHQFHwhere when it was overonly half a face was leftand half my skeleton lay brokenhalf my heart beat half a pulse in half this chestand less than half my words were spokenhalf a bird seemed to chirp half a song in half a treeZKHUH�¶8V·�EHFDPH�¶<RX·�DJDLQDQG�¶:H·EHFDPH�¶0H·�

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ELOQUENT ABYSS

They told me I could make it work I wasn’t ready for your heart to burst

The explosion of your lungs the erosion of our love

They told me I could make you fantasise and in effect resurrect the painted canvas I had splattered with my heart patterned with the stars I’d fashioned it in glass

,W�ZDV�JORZLQJ�¶WLOO�WKH�ZLQWHU�FDPH�until the sun made way for the winds of change I still pray for the simple days though you’re to blame I hope you’re still the same They told me love was gonna be a cinch “As long as you talk you never feel a pinch”

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VLQFH�WKHQ�HYHU\�ÁDPH�KDV�PDGH�PH�IHHO�D�VLQJH�next time we hang outis if I’m being lynched

Because I’m drowning in our memories going to ground like a penalty you’re making lovers of my enemies I’m just trying to be a better me

I’m seeing double now I’m never sober two of you is like a four-leaf clover and no good luck just good lies I roll the dice snake eyes for my road signs

In the mist eloquent abyss I see you twistillicit assist if you kissed then I’d be your bliss but since we missed I guess I’m just a risk

They say commitment is a test of fate so I search my own doubts and assassinate

Though I know you think you told me the truth a real truth hunts down a lie and executes

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And even though you’re cute your talk didn’t stand up so I take aim and shoot they say that’s what a real man does

And when the clouds cry we let them storm and when the grounds dry we know we’re getting warm I found life - I’m getting born DQG�ZKHQ�WKH�ELUGV�Á\��we let them swarm

This is not the way to make a start this is not the way to break a heart this is not the way to make it last LI�\RX·UH�FRPLQJ�ÀUVW��I’ll take the last

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POWER LINES

Written for 1/6’s album Electronic Mail

And through the weathering of words my throat bubbles with the tiniest murmurings of hope

Streams of consciousness remind me of my own lunacy

In my darkest hours I still turn to the tools like farmers to ploughsI reach for pens and these sheathed pieces of tree that we believe can hold the weight of our pastsand still somehow carry us into our dreams

My digits dance at the foothills of screensLULGHVFHQW�WKH\�UHÁHFW�V\OODEOHV�EDFN�LQWR�P\�RZQ�SRUHVa clenched jaw so the lyrics are swallowed and pushed out through my armsso I don’t need to write but these keys begin to read these palms

As I push forth scars at low-tidebirds swarm outsideready to pick similes from between my eyesand feast on metaphors disguised by Rappertags and battle cries

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Sequels of our own lives will be played in reverse to highlight when it was we stitched welcome mats into our verses for these curses that will bear our own demise

So let us speak of our own pain and triumphOHW�XV�FULWLFLVH�DQG�SDYH�GHÀDQFHlet us look into the river for guidanceand build shelters for our homeless minds in silence

But let us not let each other slip between the thunder cracksor suffocate in the weightlessness of outer space as we try to become stars

We are artistslet us sing each other’s chorusesback each other up on every verseand teach the kids that the Temple of Hip-hop holds just as much imperfection as any other church

Let us see each other’s spark as empowerment used to buzz at the glints in our eyesto combine with the dictionaries we keep in our pockets so we will always speak in sonnets

7RR�RIWHQ�ZH�KDYH�VHHQ�HDFK�RWKHU·V�FRIÀQVPD\�WKH\�FRQVWDQWO\�JLYH�XV�WKH�FRQÀGHQFH�WR�QHYHU�JHW�HDFK�other’s wires crossed againthese are consecrated power-lines we balance across as we write

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let us not reach for umbrellas to shelter us from the rainlet us climb the peaks of discontentand the mountains of monotonyand hold these umbrellas high in the night

because our words can only get more electricwhen the lightning strikes

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MAY YOUR PENGRACE THE PAGE

May your pen grace the page at the same pace as your brainmay your grey matter, from now on, no longer be greymay you mean every word that you sayand may writing your lines be the way that you pray

Get upstep up never let upget your setup set upget recordingget stories pouringLJQRULQJ�\RXU�FDOOLQJ�DQG�FDOOLQJ�\RX�¶ERULQJ·�LV�ERULQJyou need to be touringZKDW�DUH�\RX�GRLQJ"you’re basically stewing

No space for daydreamingno place for that feelingno place for pacing the building or facing the ceilingthere’s no way that is dealingyour brain it is stealingand there will be no change to youand there’ll never be any change to that ceiling

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I’m basically feeling that art isn’t hardwhat’s hard is your heartand it starts in the pastbut the past is in the pastso love who you are Pass a rush of blood until your arteries blastand let the blood rush to your arm and let your artistry start

May your pen express upon the page every feeling you’re inmay your white page - yanglove your black pen - yin

May the ball in your ballpoint roll because that’s the point of the balland if we can’t make our points WKHQ�ZKDW·V�WKH�SRLQW�RI�LW�DOO"

May the lead in your lead pencil lead you astraywe’ve spelt it L-E-A-D because we’ve made leaders this way And I know it’s hard but easy to say but I mean what I say when I say: “Mean what you say”

Potentially my pencil be the deftest thing you’ve ever seenadept at expressing everything that you’ve never seenespecially when you question me

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my pencil man, she gets to meshe comes to me and comforts me and takes me out to lunch you seewe have a cup of coffeebefore I know it she’s on top of meshe’s rocking and she’s rolling mewe’re touching uncontrollablyshe likes to switch the roles on meI think I’m writing with her but she is writing with meit’s my life as I desire to beit’s only right that she’s my wife 2B

She takes me to her bed of whitewe try it in the dead of nightpages till we get it rightwe make love between those sheets

May your pen grace the page at the same pace as your brainmay your grey matter, from now on, no longer be greymay you mean every single word that you sayand may writing your lines be the way that you pray

109

FEATHERS

for my unborn son

My childwhen you are born you will be goldenyou will be the salt of the earthyou will be blessed with an omen

you will be

you will be glassshimmering steelan eagle awaiting its feathersan idea made real

you will be healthyyou will be joyyou will be blessed in love, you will be wealthy

you will be lovedyou will be lost\RX�ZLOO�EH�ÀQGLQJyou will be youngand you will be reminded

110

you will be my heartmy breathmy new startyou will be my planetmy pearlmy craft

But the truth isyou will not be mineI will be your father, your rockbut your mother and Iare merely guides

I will provide an arrowa blueprinta shapea sign

and your mother - the riverthe mapthe chrysalisthe blisssheis lovethe eternal kiss

But I can’t be true to meand truthfullytry to tell you to bea new me

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It’s your life; you make itwherever you’d like to take it

Though I’ll give you your clothes and show you your soulyou’ll face your demons naked

Though I’ll teach you control and keep you from coldif you see your chance; you take it

Though of course I have fought for youwalked to all four corners and talked the truthI knowmy path isn’t right for youI’ll just try to give you the right tools to use

because this earth isn’t perfectwe’re all cursed with a search for purposewe all emerge in emergencies and hope our perfect dreams prevail perfectly

but wecan’t see the sky for clouds sometimesand can’t see our lies for doubts and Ican’t see with the eyes of owlsso I can’t seem to decipher this life right now

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:LOO�,�EH�UHDG\�WR�UDLVH�\RX"PRXOG�\RX"VKDSH�\RX"

Will I ever be wrong to change youRU�VWURQJ�HQRXJK�WR�EH�EUDYH�IRU�\RX"

Though I’m spreading my wingsI don’t know if I’m making better enemies or the betterment of anythingand when I’m in Heaven I’ll leave you a message of eleven melodies that you better singyou see, your life is my everythingand my words are your medicine

so you better remember when I tell you that I’ll be shedding every feather from my wings VR�\RX�FDQ�Á\�IXUWKHU�WKDQ�,·YH�HYHU�EHHQyou are my king

113

EXIT

As the sun setsthe galaxy rises like a map of eternity

I wash my eyes with the white of clouds VR�,�FDQ�UHDG�*RG·V�ÀQJHUSULQWV�like dust on her ceiling

8QGHU�WKH�UHÁHFWLRQ�RI�WKH�PRRQ�the rain is like a spiral staircase falling onto the earth that needs to escape

As the heart of humanness hums in the canopy of city still perfecting its call to inspiration trees grow seeds for spring RFHDQV�Á\�VRXWK�IRU�WKH�ZLQWHU

So I walk through cemeteries of hope and see my conscience in the marble of mortality

I know the wind has a crush on me

114

and it won’t stop until I’m caught by her currentsturned into the shadows of thunder used to resonate shards of hearts shot into the atmosphere

We are all sporesblown by our ancestors who were as unsure of us as we are of them

So let the tricks of history besiege me as I place rubies in my palms and set off into rough searching for answers I know may never come

looking to capture a horizon straighter than any truth I could possibly believe

a horizon that falls further away from me as I take each step into the future

115

THE FUTURE ANCIENTS

In the futurethe history books will study us

our cities will have been renamedour languages slanged into something newand this moment will one day be ancient

The future ancientsdig theoretical trenches between settlement and invasionVKRRW�ULÁHV�DW�HDFK�RWKHU�IURP�DFURVV�WKH�SODLQV�and place prayers within the screaming bullets

they shroud their heads in mourningand afterwards line their soldiers up in cemeteries like voodoo dolls for God

The future ancientswill be encased behind glass in museums

Greek ragtag squadrons with backpacksgas masks and shards of Athenian columns for weapons

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will be installed in exhibitionsRI�HLWKHU�WHUURULVWV�RU�IUHHGRP�ÀJKWHUVdepending on who it is that wins

this time

they will stand side by side ZLWK�ZD[�GXPPLHV�RI�¶JRRG�PHQ·in shirts and tieswho never leave their suburban blocksbut are called to duty through computer screensshooting unmanned cannons in far away placesand are called things likehusband sonsweetheartand Lieutenant

The future ancients will have their artefacts locked in storageshards of Molotov cocktails from the Egyptian revolution ZLOO�EH�WDJJHG�DQG�ÀOHGnext to Michael Jackson albumssmartphonesPlayboy magazines and the Australian Flag

The future ancientswill be found by future archaeologists

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preserved and embalmed in tequila and Chanel Number 5 alongside pop-star prophets who thought they were somehow saying something newthis timeWKH\�ZLOO�ÀQG�WKHPpraying to gods who believe in Scienceon a planet of do’s and don’tsof factions and fractions of us’s and them’s and we’s and whatever’s and maybe never’s and never again’sthe future ancients will be found in tombs of cheap liquor

in databases of tradition

on screens called culture

as relics of broken signals

They will hardly be visited as bonesbut remembered in the symbology of pixeland paranoia

The Future Ancientswill be remembered or lost depending on what we decide

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Since democracy has been paraphrasedsustainability called primitiveUHIXJHHV�FULPLQDOLVHG�E\�WKH�ÀUVW�LQYDGHUVand Indigenous cultures lined up side by suicide in prisonslike voodoo dolls for the futurethe textbooks will study usour cities will have been renamedour languages slanged into something newand our stories will be the only link left between objectsand their meanings

They will try to twist and turn our historiesEDVHG�RQ�ZKDW�WKH\�ÀQG�RI�XVso our voices are the only artefacts worth keepingalive

6R�ZKRVH�OLSV�ZLOO�ZH�KRQRXU"RQ�ZKRVH�WRPE�ZLOO�ZH�OD\�RXU�WHDUV"those that risked everything to speak but spoke anyway those that gave meaning in the darknessthose who not only spokebut gifted us a moment of silence in this madness to so that we could learn to hearourselves

119

Those thoughts are your artefacts

Your jewellery jadeand bronzeand your words are your monumentsyour stone and boneParthenon and Colosseumeverything worth leaving behind

In silence is how we surrenderspeech is the architecture of fate

So are we pharaohs of fallaciesRU�HPSUHVVHV�RI�QRWKLQJ"

:KDW�ZLOO�WKH\�HQJUDYH�EHORZ�RXU�VWDWXHV"

In the ancient future

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THE POET’S QUOTE

Don’t bother listening to the poetswhen you need us the most

That’s when the poet’s quote is about to rise within you be patientit will happenfrom the inside out

I’d prefer to teach you to listen to yourself rather than listen to meso you hear exactly the quote you needprecisely when you need it

I never wish to make you staywhen in your heartyou know you need to run

Run.

run without usand let me know how it goes

I’ll pin your answer on my wall,for inspiration.

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Luke Haralampou, aka Luka Lesson, is a spoken word and Hip-hop artist of Greek heritage from Australia.

With two years of international touring, eleven Writers’ Festivals, seven years of workshop experience and almost ten years of writing under his belt, Luka has written commissions and performed for The Nuyorican Poets’ &DIH��1<&���7KH�1DWLRQDO�*DOOHU\�RI�9LFWRULD��7ULQLW\�,QWHUQDWLRQDO�+LS�KRS�)HVWLYDO��*UHHFH·V�SLRQHHU�+LS�KRS�JURXS�¶$FWLYH�0HPEHU·�DQG�&KLQD·V�PRVW�celebrated living poet Xi Chuan in Beijing. He is also a former Australian Poetry Slam and Melbourne Overload Poetry Slam champion.

$FDGHPLFDOO\� /XND� KROGV� D� ÀUVW�FODVV� KRQRXUV� IURP� 0RQDVK� 8QLYHUVLW\�and has taught alongside Indigenous educators and staff at the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies. He has co-ordinated and spoken at symposia relating to cross-cultural awareness and recently completed a Masters of 6RXQG�'HVLJQ� �3RHWU\� 3HUIRUPDQFH�� DW� WKH�9LFWRULDQ�&ROOHJH� RI� WKH�$UWV�� As a workshop facilitator, Luka has assisted thousands of people in writing DQG�SHUIRUPLQJ�WKHLU�RZQ�ZRUN��PDQ\�IRU�WKH�ÀUVW�WLPH��