Published in Overland Issue 219 Winter 2015 · Uncategorized Terra nullius Reihana Robinson for Joy Harjo We are less than a sliver. Our bilge keel chipped, we travel back in time, bend to the forest, curtsey to the trees. In the forest we do not lose identity. We see past we see future. We open our mouths. Are we mad? Are we on the eve of the end? Is this the reading of Revelations? Or are we in prayer? Singing to forest deities, to water sprites to the fire gods honouring terra celestial. We come from darkness— Ephesians says it all and Euripides before. Into the world of light we are flung courtesy of the vast dark hole. If we are lucky— a tiny toehold Reihana Robinson Reihana Robinson is a writer, environmental activist, and organic farmer living on the Coromandel in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Her work is published in the USA, the Pacific and Asia. Auckland University Press published a collection of her work in 2008 and her first solo volume, Aue Rona, was published by Steele Roberts in 2012. reihanarobinson.co.nz More by Reihana Robinson › 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 18 November 2024 · Art Art and ethics in death: the case of Vivian Maier Maks Sipowicz In the internet age we have the means to make Vivan Maier's photographs and materials available to everyone, preserved and displayed, away from the necromantic urges of capital accumulation at the expense of a dead artist. 12 November 202414 November 2024 · open letter End scholasticide in Palestine: an open statement Stop Scholasticide AU We, the undersigned who represent the diverse education community across the continent of Australia, demand an end to the complicity of the Australian education sector’s leaders in the systematic destruction and attempted annihilation of the Palestinian education system.
