Woranora Dam

We used to go up there 

Us kids 

To the big dam 

Thinking the name was all wrong

The grey cement 

Wasn’t sacred

Like Wooloonora -

Black rock 

Was. 

I said - they can 

Dam the rivers 

Rape the pride 

Of our land

Of our today

Of our tiny bodies 

Of our starry eyed 

Tomorrows 

But she will still 

Run like the wind 

And he will still sing 

Like the birds do 

And I will still love enough 

To dance the call of 

Uluru 

Red as fire

Solid as gold 

Tweety tweet your 

Gameshow goop

Star spangled banners 

And all the hoopla 

Of nothing much to show for it

Because 

I walked to Uluru 

When I was just a girl 

I would have walked to the moon if I could 

I would have danced across a thousand stars 

I would have grown a pair of wings 

Flown to the brave Liions heart of

The Litani River for them. 

I would have danced the tarantella 

With a trillion spiders at my veins 

Just to say, even this is not enough 

To show what love is

So much bigger than hate

Than rape 

Than greed 

Than goodbye 

I did all that in my heart. 

Nothing said can take 

Those feelings.

I still have them. 

They are mine

But the land she is 

Everyone’s.

She is, he is, they are 

Not owned, not borrowed, not forgotten 

But loved as though 

Loved without letting go 

But loved as though 

Loved in the spirit of Woolonora 

Black rock- solid and covered in glints of silver 

Like those stars I would dance on 

come down 

To rest 

And heal our wounds 

Forever. 

Don’t Kill the Messengers

The truth isn’t dead. 

Can you hear the people sing?

Rising up in the underground…

Can you hear, the people gather…

In the silences though NOT so much on televisions 

Made by sharp square heads with dollar 

Bills for eyes and plasma hearts. 

They will not always choose the messengers. 

He who shouts in courts 

“We’ve been over this” 

Should be able to say so 

For we have. 

Do not put a glass in front of 

Voices but a stopper 

In the trumpets 

Of those who hurt 

Our freedom with 

Foghorns full of lies. 

Who can we vote for? 

None of them. 

The race is won before it 

Was a race. 

Can you hear the people sing? 

Rising up in the underground? 

Can you hear the people gather… 

There is power in money 

But many a fight was won 

With people, 

With hearts,

With peasants,

With the truth. 

Don’t talk to me about elections 

All stacked up from the start 

Don’t tell me a millionaire 

Should get an award or knighthood 

From the Queen of England. 

Put away the smarmy awards 

They are made of money 

And greed. 

If someone loves enough

To say it out loud 

Be brave enough to say 

You were right 

Shove the Oscar wins in 

With the grouch in green 

They belong in the trash

For people made movies 

For free 

And children were 

Crushed at the hands 

Of abuse 

Take off those 

Rotten jewels 

In disgrace. 

You still work for 

Plagiarists and 

Pitiful crooks. 

Do not stay silent. 

Say it out loud. 

Scream it from the 

Rooftops 

Make it matter. 

Take your wings 

And fly a flag 

With Arrows in your skin 

Can you hear the people sing? 

Can you hear the people gather 

In the underground?

Not the trolls 

Not the numbers on 

The followers list 

Not the Labels 

Not the one with 

The “best body”

The ones with the best 

Hearts. 

Don’t show me a catholic cross 

Until a Royal Commission is safe 

To speak in. 

Do they know they have more money 

Than google? 

That’s a lot. 

Halfway there isn’t good enough. 

It’s been too long. 

Though my fingers slip across the 

Keys of a piano 

Though I make my own mistakes 

They are not tickets 

They are not fines 

We are not shame 

Don’t talk to me about the mighty Police 

Until beautiful police officers 

Aren’t run ragged 

By all of the wrong ones. Can you hear the people sing? 

Can you feel the people as they gather in the underground?

All people, all kinds of religion, all kinds of ways of looking, from 

All over the world, all kinds of ways of loving. 

Please don’t kill the Messenger. 

You’ve tried and failed. 

We will rise up. Rise Up. Fly a flag. 

I’m angry. 

I am woman. 

I am with men and women and all those 

Who mean well, try hard and want peace. 

Hear me roar and cry and look to the birds 

We have a voice it is our own 

Can you hear me? 

Did you make my children, 

my lover,  doubt their 

Freedom, their worth, their real value? 

You could not rip away my love. 

It is bigger than money. 

It seeps from my skins into the drains 

Out to the sea. 

It is full. 

It is everything I have. 

Do you hear the people sing? 

Do you hear the people gather? 

I would dance across a billions stars for them. 

Or at least try to. 

Don’t kill the Messengers. 

Rise up, Dig deep, love well.