Dawning

Featured in

  • Published 20220428
  • ISBN: 978-1-922212-71-9
  • Extent: 264pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm), eBook

While her mother lies pinned to her bed under the startling
weight of a cut to the abdomen more than 1,000 km away,
I walk. To the river. To a gentle place beneath she-oak
where the water is a body freshly made. A thick branch
curves to the sand. It is the right height for a woman
to clutch at during the hours of labour that unfasten
reality. I think of the women who’d mind her.
Build a shelter and a fire. Catch the fish to help her
breastfeed. A stream of welcome pulls from my chest
for new life, for each new life that has been will be.
The river world is born into birdcall, leaves silvered by
morning’s water. Sun in the sky and my hair and my arms.
Her mother is alone in a busy four-bed hospital room
I’m too far to bring the fish.

The details of birthing on Country alluded to in this poem are from the teachings of Barkindji poet Dr Paul Collis and are shared with his permission.

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

Ella Kurz

Author & Editor

Ella Kurz lives on Ngunnawal Country. She is a co-editor of the anthology What We Carry: Poetry on Childbearing (Recent Work Press, 2021) and...

More from this edition

An archive for the dispossessed

EssayAs an archive, the Jaffna Public Library told a story about the place of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. The political authorities of the 1980s wanted to suppress that narrative – and burning the archive was a quick and conclusive way to do it.

The power of the First Nations Matriarchy

EssayI WAS BORN from the world’s most ancient womb: the sacred womb of a First Nations woman. The blood pumping through my veins is the life force of a long line of First Nations Warrior Women whose spirits run deep into this ancient soil. It is a privilege to be raised in a culture that understands the power of the First Nations Matriarchy.

Writing back

MemoirSIR SAMUEL GRIFFITH was my great-great grandfather. He was one of the ‘founding fathers’ of Australian Federation, a premier of Queensland, the first Chief...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.