Published in Overland Issue 230 Autumn 2018 · Uncategorized Guarded by birds | Judith Wright Poetry Prize, first place Evelyn Araluen When you go as the spaces between wine&zoloft say you must at thirtyseven or some other too soon before old has a chance to grow in you before youth has time to loose you from his claws I will meet you at the edges of a body shaped like loss and trace the outline of your absence with smoke then take from the air the name of a man who smelt like river and spoke like distance Second surviving son to two generations of fathers to buried boys loved&beloved in your loudest lonely by the daughter to what I swear I heard you call deliverance too goodtoo good this eloquent offering of birdcage to gulls There are knowings I cannot tell you and things you do not know how to say between tradition and trauma there are nights when we meet voiceless in the shadow of oncewas gum the memory of leaf and branch the place where you want to die I know little of this ceremony have only collected for the coolamon carved from river red to carry water to carry child to carry smoke to carry you to those who watch and hope there will be place for you When you go I will be the one to tell the birds they will wait as I gather the eucalypt and tell me take them still living break the branch if you must Read the rest of Overland 230 If you enjoyed this poem, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four outstanding issues for a year Evelyn Araluen Evelyn Araluen is a Goorie and Koori poet, researcher, and co-editor of Overland Literary Journal. Her Stella-prize-winning poetry collection DROPBEAR was published by UQP in 2021. She lectures in Literature and Creative Writing at Deakin University. More by Evelyn Araluen › 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 15 September 2023 · Friday Features Activating the poetic spirit as friendship John Kinsella I’ve always had the aching feeling that—as a text to be shared among friends and maybe eventually ‘enemies’—the soul-body dialogue poem is a way of arguing towards spiritual certainty in the face of earthly corruption and doubt. First published in Overland Issue 228 14 September 202314 September 2023 · Indigenous rights The ballot box does not translate ideology Jeanine Leane The Voice referendum is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the younger demographic to shape the future of the nation. Future generations of younger Australians will have to live with the outcome of October 14 for quite some time. If the referendum is defeated, it mean a nation was given the opportunity to recognise its First People and refused it.