‘How could you do this to us?’ tells of the resolve needed
to access Manus Island’s mothers and babies, Christine Hill’s attempt to bring the
joy of play, the way undetermined detention time seeps all hope out of the
mothers, how this becomes so sadly reflected in the wellbeing and behaviour of
the infants. A birth in detention, by the way, is officially described as an ‘incident’
and the baby is given a number.
This moving, prize-winning essay by Christine Hill is published
in issue 5 of Other Terrain Journal
just released by Swinburne University.
In ‘Making a Stand’ fantasy writer, Isobel Carmody, describes
how her initial involvement with a protest outside Brisbane’s Lady Cilento
Hospital to prevent baby Asha being sent to off shore detention, lead to an
empowering and inspiring, daily solo protest against off shore detention in
general, wherever she might be. She becomes more confident, more informed, more
determined. She thinks all the while about refugees and leaves us believing we
should do the same.
There are not only essays, but also creative
non-fiction, reviews, images and poems. Michelle Cahill’s Exile is lush in its use of nature as metaphor for displacement; Eileen
Chong’s Black Sun instills the fear
of being left behind; Jordan King-Lacroix’s Politics
questions our silencings; Lorne Johnson’s Only
some things is powerfully succinct; S. Nagaveeran’s (Ravi) I was on the boat, now I am on the road
is raw and personal.
My own contribution is a found poem titled Asylum and the ekphrastic sequence of micro poems Syria’s Children. Extra thanks to the
editors for including the full sequence of Syria’s
Children as I've only had excerpts published previously. I’m
incredibly pleased to be selected for publication in this insightful migration
issue of Other Terrain.
More migration poems and essays at Swinburne's Backstory history journal. I'm heading there shortly — and yes — delighted to have poems published there too.
More migration poems and essays at Swinburne's Backstory history journal. I'm heading there shortly — and yes — delighted to have poems published there too.
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