by HELEN McDONALD
A response to Aboriginal artist Sonia Kurarra’s painting ‘Martuwarra’
after being invited to camp on Bunuba country by the traditional owners
My surface eyes skim across
the forever Fitzroy river.
An outsider, heavy-treading
on this land,
I watch from the bank –
see skipping, tripping
local lads daring and goading,
splashing in the fast flow,
tempting left-over dinosaurs
gliding among pandanus
and plumpy barramundi.
This observer sees only
what the eyes interpret
in a moment of no context,
no deeper understanding.
The artist paints this story
from the place above,
where her ancestors dwell.
Swirling circles, a kaleidoscope
in earth colours, magenta river,
rust rocks, saffron grasses,
skeletal fish in a harmony
of everlasting, always will be
dreaming told through her eyes.
An ancient knowledge.
Seven decades on
a new way
of seeing country.