Chapter 5 - Dreaming


and I keep
having dreams...

the face of Truganini
hangs over the silvery ocean of my thoughts
like a dark moon

the path to her –
nothing but blackness
absorbing
every bit of light
I try to shine on this
history

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter 2 - Facebook and Google Maps

Image
1000 shares! Is this what fame feels like? Online Facebook fame? Micro-fame? Is there such a thing as micro-fame? Or is that an oxymoron? Am I the moron for feeling it as fame at all? This mural has caught people's attention not because of me, but because of its mystery; its out-of-place-ness; its other(-side-of-the-)worldliness. And ABC radio want to interview me! Is this what viral means? Is this what news is? Me posting a few photos of street art I stumbled upon in Norway 2 months ago when I'm back home trying to sketch out a new life for myself and the kids? Why-why-why? All these whys don't make me wise. All I know is that I hold this story, and it feels like a gift. And I feel a responsibility to find the next chapter; to write it down; to share it. And it feels good to have a project; something to drive me on, it gives me a momentum to carry me through my grief. So here I am... Desperately trying to remember that ride I took – zooming here, there and everywh...
Read more

Chapter 4 - Searching and Re-searching

Image
This is the story of a black woman. And I am a white man. Yet I do feel like a custodian of this story, even though I feel so damn inadequate. So I've been reading what I can, and listening to podcasts. Sadly, it seems, there's little more than trinkets of info on Truganini's life. But these simple facts do suggest something of her experiences. Like this, on wikipedia – in 1829, by the age of 17: "...her mother had been killed by sailors, her uncle shot by a soldier, her sister abducted by sealers, and her fiancé brutally murdered by timber-cutters, who then repeatedly sexually abused her." And this, in The Vintage News: "Prior to her death, Truganini had pleaded to colonial authorities for a respectful burial and requested that her ashes be scattered in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel. She feared that her body would be dissected and analysed for scientific purposes. Despite her wishes, within two years, her skeleton was exhumed by the Royal Society of Ta...
Read more

Chapter 9 – Finally, an email and answers!

Image
Hey Cam, I have been contacted by Walter Wehus with an incredible story. My name is Ariadne, I live in Bergen and I painted Truganini at the arquitecture school, I think you were trying to find me, is it true? It is just amazing... I have no words! I just heard your one poem podcast (I also made my own research about you, pretty easy!) and got gladly surprised with the last one’s theme.      ... Today, I'm doing a poem called      You Bring The Story; I Bring The Coffee ...      when someone says      "No words can describe ..."      they might be surprised      how much CAN be      conjured      ball-parked      called upon      and thrown into relief      with words I had started writing the story to you with “I have no words...” so you see the iron...
Read more