Story teller Brooke Scobie

Resistance 

Fires burn
Kindled by blood memory
Bridges fall in the wake of our boiling terror
Their embers glisten in dry riverbeds
Where once we washed you
Blessed ourselves
Drank full

Full of spirit
Lomandra dreaming
We weave you closer
Each stitch pulling tighter at our breast
But that was before
Sacred rivers grew thirsty
Babies disappeared
Boarded out
Our homes boarded up

Now we spew water from our mouths
Relearn stolen tongues
Desperate to quench the cry
Of desert riverbeds
Where you once played
Blessed yourselves
Drank full

Full of song
Calling to coolness of the dawn
Magpie dreaming
We tear at the scalps of churches
We taste their blood
Still they come in waves
Unlike the sea with all her love
Never ending torrents
Hold down
Until woven stitches loosen
From our breast

We sit in dust bowls
Thoughts spin on willy-willys
Lomandra tangled mind
We unravel
Loose threads pulled from the brackish
Saltwater delirium
We blessed you
Drank full

Full of dance
With that salted skin
In shades innumerable
We share each remembered stitch
To settle our blood memories
To heal our hands
Repairing Lomandra woven hearts
That now fill our chests 

Brooke Scobie is a queer Goorie woman, single mum, emerging writer, and community worker. She was born and bred on Bidjigal country in South West Sydney and now lives on Darkinjung land.

As a writer she is dedicated to telling stories that centre Blak identities, queer love, family, and unpacking some of the big issues that can affect First Nations’ communities and countries. 

More published work by Brooke

Blak Parenting Existence as Resistance (full article)

Article published on SBS Voices Nanna was stolen as a child and her trauma lives on in me

Brooke also hosts the podcast YARN QUEST an Awesome Black kids show that brings to life big stories by little kids. Each episode features stories sent in by the kids that listen to the show. 

   

Photo © Liza Moscatelli