Published in Overland Issue 223 Winter 2016 · Nakata Brophy Prize First place: Expert Ellen van Neerven Poor me don’t know how it happened think I got a non-Indigenous girlfriend who thinks she’s an expert don’t know how she’s got her expertise think I’m the first one she’s met yet she tells me I’m closed to other sides of the debate that she has the answers because she saw a television ad for Recognition and though most Indigenous Australians are opposed she says it’s for our good talks about drunks and sexual abuse ‘up north’ devalues my own knowledge (too urban) and anything I get from black media (not the whole truth I wouldn’t trust it) she likes to argue when she’s had a few 13 times more her voice loud (87%) of intimate partner homicides fresh tears on my face involving Indigenous people, are alcohol related she’s drunk, I tell the booliman still shaking. Sitting on the steps. no, I haven’t had any won’t let her forget this statistic tonight it’s her in the paddy wagon Read the rest of Overland 223 – If you liked this article, please subscribe or donate. Ellen van Neerven Ellen van Neerven is an award-winning writer, editor and educator of Mununjali Yugambeh and Dutch heritage with strong ancestral ties to south east Queensland. 'Chermy' appears in van Neerven's newly released second poetry collection Throat (UQP, 2020). More by Ellen van Neerven › 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 December 202418 December 2024 · Nakata Brophy Prize Dawning in the rivulet of my father’s mourning Yasmin Smith My father floats words down Toonooba each morning. They arrive to me by noon. / Nothing diminishes in his unfolding, not even the currents in midwinter June. / He narrates the sky prehistorically like a cadence cutting him into deluge. 8 November 202418 December 2024 · Nakata Brophy Prize Announcing the final results of the 2024 Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers Editorial Team After careful consideration, judges Karen Wyld and Eugenia Flynn have selected first place and two runners-up to form the final results of this year’s Nakata Brophy Prize!
