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Wild Flowers - Ali Cobby Eckermann

from The Night's Insomnia by Jen Lush

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about

Poets Commentary:

It’s like the desert after rain, when the landscape fills with wildflowers. Such is the beauty. For me each wildflower represents the footsteps of those who have gone before, the Ancestors. When the scenery is filled with wildflowers so is my heart.
My extensive travels across Aboriginal Australia compelled me to learn first-hand the shocking extent of massacre across this continent. Respected Elders shared their massacre history with me, the mass killings of innocent people that occurred since the arrival of the British in 1788. My horror grew as the Elders told HOW each massacre occurred: poisonings, slaughter by sword and shotgun, burnings and beheadings, the chaining of people to drown at high tides. My heart was pained to absorb recounts of such hatred. And my heart remains filled with pain by the denial led by the Australian governments, who work tirelessly to diminish this appalling chapter in Australian history.
This poem was my delicate attempt to honour, and to recover from these learnings. I felt compelled to reiterate the truth, that every aspect of colonization did such harm to my people; the building of fences heralding both the stealing of Land and Life.
Today the fences remain. And the impacts on Aboriginal peoples continues. The ongoing shifts in Native Title legislations prevent access and ownership of Land, which continues to exclude us from investment and security. Fences surround the health clinics; per population we are the largest consumers of western medication, whilst our Traditional Healers and their programs scratch for funds. The fences around schooling and education are evident; it is further assimilation with little consultation or positive result. The fence may be a metaphor. We are First Nations people; we are still dying, and still denied.

lyrics

Poem:

Mallets pound fence posts
in tune with the rifles
to mask massacre sites
Cattle will graze
sheep hooves will scatter
children’s bones
Wildflowers will not grow
where the bone powder
lies

credits

from The Night's Insomnia, released April 21, 2017
Jen Lush

Music composition and vocals.

Chris Parkinson

Electric & acoustic guitars, bass guitar, vocal harmonies.

Richard Coates

Accordion, keys, iPad.

Produced, recorded, engineered and mixed by Chris Parkinson at My Sweet Mule — A MSM Production. Mastered by Mick Wordley at Mixmasters.

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all rights reserved

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Jen Lush Adelaide, Australia

Jen Lush is known for her spacious and emotive, starkly modern folk songs wrapped around expansive storytelling. From her 2017 album of poem-songs ‘The Night’s Insomnia,’ to her 2021 album ‘Let Loose the Beating Birds’ Jen and her stellar band have appeared at festivals and venues throughout South Australia, Victoria, NSW, WA and Tasmania. New album 'Hum of the mettle' is out now. ... more

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