i prayed
stripped to underwear bravado
climbed webs of rusting steel
stood and faced a common enemy
i was courage
fear a thirteen-year-old’s only desire
spread from the rail and flew
humid air fifty feet of life on skin
i left my body
tepid water a magnet drawing down
bands of blackness crushing bodies
the light above extinguished
i was alive
surface gasping in a deluge
lightning tearing holes in sky
this river of rising life
flood me
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Acknowledgements
The majority of poems in Whisper Songs were written following the sudden death of my little brother, Wayne, in 2018. Wayne loved words and over many years created love for his family with an acoustic guitar. He was magic and he was poetry in motion – and at rest. Each word in this collection is dedicated to him.
Annie Te Whiu, who edited this collection, is not only an outstanding poet, but a superb craftsperson. She patiently gathered my wayward words and wove them into containers of meaning and heart. Thank you, Annie. I also want to thank Aviva Tuffield at the University of Queensland Press. Aviva has supported my writing for many years and tenaciously watches my back. And to Jenna Lee, I am so grateful to have had Whisper Songs designed by a truly gifted and remarkable artist. Together, we have made a book of love. The smile will not leave my face and my heart will be content. Always.
These poems, of Blood, Skin and Water, are of course poems about family, community and a love of Country. I am blessed to have the support of so many generous and warm people in my life. My love to each of you. Each word of Whisper Songs was written on Wurundjeri Country. I write with gratitude to a nation of people who have survived the onslaught of colonisation and protected Country all the while. Thank you for showing the way with strength and courage.
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Document Outline
Cover
Author Biography
Also by Tony Birch
Title Page
Imprint Page
Dedication
Contents
Introduction – Anne-Marie Te Whiu
BLOOD Little Man
Dragster
Fading Light
TKO
Isabel
Women
Away
Finding You Outside Kyoto
Matinee
A Father Brushes His Daughter’s Hair on the First Day of School
‘Trouble Trouble Trouble’: Probation File 29/1957
Stillborn
Archie
4 am the Window
Cathedral
Leaving
SKIN The Eight Truths of Khan
The Silence
Forebearer
A Matter of Lives
Waiting for a Train with Thelma Plum
Hygiene for a Nation’s Soul
A Native Surgeon’s Duties
The Oath of a White Man
Razor-wire Nation
Race War
Gallows – near La Trobe Street
Tunnerminnerwait
WATER How Water Works
Black Ophelia
Companions in Death
Birrarung Billabong
At the Creek
The Arteries
Swimming Whole
Water
Gunnamatta
Beneath the Bridge
Desecrate
The Great Flood of 1971
Acknowledgements