Mr In-between
by Brian Young
(edited by Phillip Hall)
White trash, black trash, that in-between one brown one trash
You tell me, what fuck am I??!!!
Might have been stolen one, hobble-chained or massacred one
Run up the flag pole and spat on one
But I am white trash, black trash, that in-between one brown one trash
You tell me, what fuck am I??!!!
Might have been Cathy or Lionel, Michael or Yvonne
Maybe even Anthony fuckin’ Mundine
But I am white trash, black trash, that in-between one brown one trash
You tell me, what fuck am I??!!!
Might have been off the rails in prison one
Doped up big, pissed down lil-broken one
But I am white trash, black trash, that in-between one brown one trash
You tell me, what fuck am I??!!!
Might have been homeless one, street urchin pusher one
Dressed up buskin’ lil-corroboree one
But I am white trash, black trash, that in-between one brown one trash
You tell me, what fuck am I??!!!
Might have been white mother, black father
And everyone’s unwanted brown lil-shit one
So I am white trash, black trash, that in-between one brown one trash
You tell me, what fuck am I??!!!
Yes, you all tell me what fuck am I!!!
The Straight Road Story
by Namall Manu
(edited by Phillip Hall)
Fightin’ all round me. To flee I drink an smoke gunja. An eat magic mushrooms, exploding my head so high. I am sad one so one day when crazy high on drugs I do home invasion – splintering what no one gives to me. This is a very bad time like sitting on a cactus till it feel really really good. It brings my family shame. That is when I went crashin’ like an ambush. I do my time in juvenile jail and then get myself to East Arnhem Land, back to my Country. I need to straighten out an bring pride back to my family. I am Ganambarr man. This is my clan name an this is where I belong. My mission now is to be a strong one, northern branded with my tattoos, sharing with others to find some peace of mind.
Phillip Hall and Brian Young
Brian Young is a homeless Central Australian man living in Darwin’s ‘long grass’. He is a talented performance poet too often over-looked and not heard. Amidst life’s troubles he flourishes and survives still.
Manall Manu
Namall Manu is currently living in the long grass in Darwin. He does volunteer work at the Northern Territory Writers’ Centre and hopes one day to publish a book of all his memories. He likes to help others.
Judith Crispin’s feature photograph is of Neil Jupurrurla Cooke at the Catfish waterhole near Lajamanu, 2014. Judith is a poet, musician and artist. She has a PhD from the ANU and has done a bunch of post-doctoral research in Paris and Berlin. Judith runs poetry readings at Manning Clark House and is employed by the Australian Catholic University as director of academic and creative research for the Julfa Project. Her images are exhibited in international festivals and her first collection of poetry, The Myrrh-Bearers, was published last year by Puncher and Wattmann. The image of Neil Jupurrurla Cook is part of a collection of Tanami desert photographs in Judith’s book of photographs and poems, The Lumen Seed (Daylight Books, 2016).