Published in Overland Issue 207 Winter 2012 Uncategorized Starvation Box Blues Joe Dolce When I got myself this Starvation Box my daddy told me son you’re bound to lose you ain’t never gonna make no money playing that guitar only give you the Starvation Box blues. Now I’ve stood in that Welfare line I’ve passed the hat and I’ve played for food I hope my luck changes soon I’m sick of these Starvation Box blues. Sometimes I want to smash this Starvation Box build a fire just to warm my feet or bust it into little pieces and use the toothpicks to pick my teeth. My music has got me through some hard times music has made me jump and shout this Starvation Box has been my best friend for so long Lord I just can’t turn it out. Sometimes I wish I had me a regular job and was making steady money just like you instead of living with so much damn uncertainty and all these Starvation Box blues. Joe Dolce Joe Dolce moved to Australia in 1979, becoming a citizen in 2004. He is known internationally for the most successful Australian song in history, ‘Shaddap You Face’, which reached number one on the pop charts in fifteen countries. He has achieved award-winning recognition as a songwriter, serious composer and poet. More by Joe Dolce 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 First published in Overland Issue 228 7 February 2023 Aboriginal Australia Victoria police back down, is this a case for defunding? Crystal McKinnon and Meriki Onus After three arduous years, Victoria Police have today withdrawn their charges against two organisers of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest. Whilst we welcome their decision, we note that their mediocrity gave them no other option. Emboldened by their state-sanctioned impunity, Victoria Police’s ineptitude hit a dead end. Pigs cannot fly. First published in Overland Issue 228 6 February 20237 February 2023 Aboriginal Australia Winaga-li Gunimaa Gali: listen, hear, think, understand from our sacred Mother Earth and our Water Winaga-li Gunimaa Gali Collective To winaga-li, Gomeroi/Kamilaroi people must be able to access Gunimaa. They must be able to connect and re-connect. Over 160 years of colonisation has privileged intensive agriculture, grazing and heavily extractive water management regimes, enabled by imposed property regimes and governance systems. Gunimaa and Gali still experience the violent repercussions of these processes, including current climate changes which are exacerbating impacts, as droughts become longer, floods and heat extremes become more intense, and climatic zones shift, impacting on species’ viability and biodiversity.
