Land Acknowledgement
Jonathon Penny, Ph.D
Leader, Thinker, Innovator, Culture-maker, Problem-solver, Poet
(after Sherene, for Lloyd)
Too like
????? a
sacrament
first thing
pro forma
offered as
a quick bite
or nip to
bowed heads and
open mouths
indifferent
to truth
???????????????but
kneeling none-
theless
??????????????or
taken as
exaggerated
fuel
????????as if
to quench or
thirst or flame
or both
???????????????to
drown all
history
and veil all
truth in
holiness
and hush.
Someway
???????????????????in
between
?????????????????al-
ternative
reflection
on a
heritage
of wound or
wealth
?????????????on cost
and carrion
on living
testaments
and persons
real
????????and here
and grasping
still for
beauty
freedom
and for
honour lost
reflection
of the still-
wise difference
the sidelong
glance
?????????????the deep
dark kernel
planted there
by years and
years and years
of ignorance
prosperity
and ruth
Oh
???????it’s the
wrestle
???????????????now
Better out
than in
??????????????the
saying goes
And saying’s
better yet
than silence
was and is
and better
than the lie
told with
curled mouth
closed eye
fist heart
At least
we try
?????????????as
awkwardly
as rough-stone
words may come
as caustic
as the coal-
fire truth may
bite
???????as
empty as
the sign
???????????????oh
always!
???????????????is
Because
????????????????it
seems to
minor me
to testify
of land
?????????????not
mine and
never
??????????was
the same
??????????????????to
see both ghost
and living
soul whose place
this was and
always is.
Jonathon Penny 2023
Former Director of Regional Education at College of New Caledonia
1 年As only you can, J! Much appreciated!