Published in Overland Issue 219 Winter 2015 Uncategorized Thank you Apirana Taylor thank you for the nails thank you for the blankets thank you for the rum thank you for the tobacco thank you for your law thank you for your prisons thank you for smashing my language thank you for changing my family values all these things i no longer want thank you Apirana Taylor Apirana Taylor, Ngāti Porou, Te Whanau a Apanui and Ngāti Ruanui, is a nationally and internationally published Māori poet, short story writer, storyteller, playwright, novelist, actor and painter. He has been a Writer-in-Residence in New Zealand schools and universities. More by Apirana Taylor 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 Crystal McKinnon and Meriki Onus After three arduous years, Victoria Police have today withdrawn their charges against two organisers of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest.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.
