Published in Overland Issue 201 Summer 2010 · Writing / Main Posts On the long road Hans Katakarinja This is a poem on the long road A trip to no where Step by step he drags his foot Wondering if he’s gonna hitch a ride This poem makes you feel tired and thirsty The man curses the water mirage Of an old fellah chanting the rain In the distance, on the horizon line This poem stops and lets you cut into it Straight black, white dotted lines fading Into the brown horizon, mixing into the sky Steam rises, sweat falls At anytime you wonder if he’s going to make it But he staggers with a limp into the middle At 200 kms an hour a wind just hits him Not a dragging foot sounds, not even a breath The poem ends with a long breaking sound Squeaking, whistling sound and comes to a halt. Acknowledgement: The opening words of each stanza are from ‘This is a poem’ by Catherine Bateson Hans Katakarinja Hans Katakarinja currently lives in Tennant Creek with his two daughters. He was born in Ntaria (Hermannsburg), about 130km south-west of Alice Springs, and speaks Western Arrarnta. ‘The Pain Rains’, was recently published in This country anytime anywhere, an anthology of new Indigenous writing from the Northern Territory. More by Hans Katakarinja › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 11 December 202411 December 2024 · Writing The trouble Ken Bolton’s poems make for me, specifically, at the moment Linda Marie Walker These poems doom me to my chair and table and computer. I knew it was all downhill from here, at this age, but it’s been confirmed. My mind remains town-size, hemmed in by pine plantations and kanite walls and flat swampy land and hills called “mountains”. 4 October 202418 October 2024 · Main Posts Announcing the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers 2024 longlist Editorial Team Sponsored by Trinity College at the University of Melbourne and supporters, the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, established in 2014 and now in its ninth year, recognises the talent of young Indigenous writers across Australia.
