Published in Overland Issue 239 Winter 2020 · Poetry 2019 Oodgeroo Noonuccal winner: Black child Jeanine Leane Black child — born deviant from norms of western culture. Dispossessed like a refugee in a sea of white divisiveness where cognitive capabilities are measured on a colour scale according to my phenotypic reality. My Blackness — marked already by your history. So much so that you know all about me before I am even born. Black child — thwarted by ingrained white perception. My life not yet lived, but my existence already theorized by my Black skin. Black child — born already labelled — swimming from the womb against currents of conformity. Black cross in white box records my existence in the nation — statistically tracked from birth to death captive of the white square mentality. My Blackness — already confined by your colonial chains redefined by white rhetoric. Identity already ascribed from above by a raceless ruling elite. Read the rest of Overland 239 If you enjoyed this piece, buy the issue Or subscribe and receive four brilliant issues for a year Jeanine Leane Jeanine Leane belongs to the Wiradjuri people from the Murrumbidgee river. She is a poet, teacher, author and essayist who is well published in the areas of Aboriginal writing, writing difference and literary criticism. More by Jeanine Leane › 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 16 May 202516 May 2025 · Poetry Bluey Blood Dorothy Hewett Alice cut her wrists / & joined the Party / read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists / & Ten Days that Shook the World 1 11 April 202511 April 2025 · Poetry Final results of the 2024 Judith Wright Poetry Prize Editorial team Overland, the judges and the Malcolm Robertson Foundation are thrilled to announce the final results of the 2024 Judith Wright Poetry Prize.
