Published in Overland Issue The Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize Uncategorized Highly recommended: A poem about community John Graham The braille of our nation’s Soul Like someone putting their hand up Like someone digging deep The braille of our nation’s Soul You feel it across all communities And all communities feel it Feeling our way, young and old We’re all feeling our way, For a feeling called home The nature of our tears, is to find a home in each other’s eyes, find some reason, some way, between the tides The nature of our blood is to find, every other heart that’s not our own, and still recognise home Image: ‘Braille’ / flickr John Graham John Graham is of Aboriginal and European blood, namely Kombumerri, Waka Waka, Gamilaroi and Irish, Scottish, English blood. The affirmation ‘Stories make us and Stories keep us’ helps John navigate the interesting times we all live in. Everyone is free to touch the ground and start from there. More by John Graham 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 24 March 202324 March 2023 War Conga line to Armageddon: the rush to get us into a war with China Ben Brooker It shouldn’t need spelling out that Australia could not win a war with China in any sense that matters, even with the backing of the US and its allies. At best, such a victory would be a Pyrrhic one. At worst, we would be so utterly humiliated as to not even know what kind of defeat had been inflicted upon us. First published in Overland Issue 228 23 March 2023 Trans rights Why gender essentialism is a white supremacist ideology Maddison Stoff The idea that these neo-Nazis are just ‘cosplayers’, rather than the local version of an international and decades-long attempt by numerous lone wolves and paramilitary groups to seize control of multiple countries, is too dangerous to seriously contemplate. The better question might be: why do so many anti-trans rights activists, who often see themselves as left-wing or self-describe as feminists, tolerate or downplay the presence of Nazis in their circles? And, just as importantly, why do neo-Nazis show up to support them?
