Poetry is My Every Way
Many thanks to Writing QLD and Queensland Writers Centre for giving me a voice over the years, on topics such as Diaspora, Poetry Advocacy and how to be a community journalist during natural disaster recovery. This time round, I am discussing Cultural Creativity.
The cover features local contemporary printmaker and textile designer, Katie Piekutowski.
It was a fabulous experience to prepare a conversation for the AFTS 2022 conference in Brisbane.
Inspired by the Flesh to Fossil theme, Lauren and I discussed the idea of ancestry as fossil and thinking of our audience not just ourselves from the very beginning, our discussions began.
Through the course of our preparations, we had zoom conversations, which were transformed into a collaborative slide presentation with pertinent images of our own choice.
At the same time I was conversing with Roselle and Sharon, and finding that in Lauren has a deep understanding of many cultures and backgrounds which she is able to respect in the editing process and was equally helpful to bounce ideas off.
Lauren is a true sister of the Diaspora, as an American in an Australian environment, and our conversations were so interesting for both of us. She has learnt to embrace the feelings of ‘otherness’ she sometimes has as an American, and to see what this gives her as a lens to understanding that process which often disempowers the recipient.
We found the conference itself to be so inspiring, and found that there were some unforeseen challenges during the months of preparation which included the loss of friends and relatives.
This led us to reflect on the portal between this life and the next, and the nearness of ancestors, friends and family gone before us, to help us understand and make those journeys, as well as the role of stories in looking at future and past worlds.
It has been an honour to work with dear Lauren, as well as Roselle and Sharon. And to think we have future collaborations in mind, is just the best feeling. You know a team is a fabulous one, when people wish for a continuation of the journey.
Many thanks to the AFTS conference for providing the opportunity for us to share our thoughts on ways forward in the creation of Australian fairy tales – utilising respect and honouring as lenses, to put our processes of research and storytelling through.
So inspired by this conversation, and the response of the audience to our storytelling, analytical and emotive compassionate thinking, we feel that we would further like to develop our presentation into a workshop to inspire others to engage with their ancestry as a source of inspiration – a fossil maybe to give flesh to, but more to breathe respectful soul into, where the ancestors will be happy with us.
It was brilliant to present with Sharon Orapeling (Botswana) and Roselle Tenefrancia (Philippines) at the recent annual Australian Fairy Tale Conference hosted this year in Brisbane. Many more thoughts on this conference to come, but this is a summary highlight of our presentation.
We began by acknowledging the many nations, of Indigenous Australia before it was colonised.
It was extremely moving for us as we shared the process of collecting our stories from family, community and online, and then followed this with a telling of a story each.
Although we personally felt we could not fully do the stories we chose the justice we hoped for in the time we had to prepare and tell (and we did work on this for several months), and saw all the ways to expand and improve our tellings in the future.
Still from the depths of our hearts, we honoured the past, whilst adapting to the present, our now home country Australia and the diaspora we all found within our identities and that of our families and the time limits we had.
We were very heartened by the reception to our journeys, and the seeds of the stories we could share.
We shared that we are really at the beginning of our journey to excavate and more fully develop the performances of the stories we unearthed in preparing for the conference. And the process we were engaged in was also in itself a process of decolonisation, and reclaiming and reconnecting to our cultures.
Each of us shared language, culture, and a specific story that was meaningful. I specifically shared the words and chant from my mother (Maipa Village, Papua New Guinea), from a lullaby she would sing to us when we (my brothers and I) were hanging in a string bag/ bilum wherever was handy when she worked.
The presentations over the weekend from many other wonderful presenters, thinkers, tellers, artists, educators, and performers, arts workers, psychologists sparked many thoughts for us and have inspired us to think what next?
We thanks the AFTS family for giving us the opportunity to present and the audience for your listening.
I would say that my first introduction to June was serendipitous, as it was a time when I needed to feel that there are opportunities for writing on diaspora experiences that are not necessarily academic or literary.
Working with June for WQ’s Diaspora edition was very special for me, as she encouraged personal and intimate storytelling.
After this first experience, we have continued to work on another diaspora-focused project that just highlights her beautiful approach to the way we share stories. June is highly organised and very present. I am looking forward to working with her on more projects in the future.
(Pictured above: Sharon, Dimity and June)
Delighted to be on a panel with these two insightful women, Sharon Orapeleng, and Dimity Powell, to discuss the challenges and gifts of Diaspora to – community, writing, and publishing.
The session is fully booked out, and is happening before the Queensland Writer’s Centre, Christmas Party in a couple of weeks.
Sharon Orapeleng is a behavioral change expert and a mental health professional. Through Psyched Solutions Training and Consultancy – Sharon is on a journey to create a much more compassionate community that cares by embedding the African philosophy of ‘Ubuntu’’ – I am Because We Are, in all she does. A renowned speaker and community advocate, Sharon works with workplaces, businesses and communities delivering workshops on mental health awareness and wellbeing as well as facilitating cultural diversity conversations. She also works for the Queensland Government as a strategic policy and program lead for mental health community support programs delivered by non-government organisations.
Dimity Powell is the Managing Editor for Kids’ Book Review. Amongst her 30
published stories and six books are the recent Oswald Messweather (2021), and
the forthcoming This is My Dad (2022), Discover more at dimitypowell.com
June Paisa Perkins, author, poetry advocate, educator, and director of gumbootspearlz press, defines herself as a world citizen in the diaspora ocean whilst looking outwards from Brisbane. She has edited two community collections themed Cassowary Coast and recovery from cyclones, and independently published two poetry collections. WQ 275 is her first commissioned editing position.
@gumbootspearlz.
A huge thank you to the Queensland Writers Centre for their support of Diverse communities.
June Paisa Perkins