Award winning poet Samuel Wagan Watson reflects on the South Brisbane of his childhood and his family’s history in the place where QPAC now stands.
In this short video interview, Samuel Wagan Watson expands on the themes in his written piece for Story, but also recites his work Love Poem, giving us greater insight into where he draws his writing inspiration.
Read the full article in Story.
L O V E P O E M
He had L O V E tattooed across his clenched right fist, followed
by P O E M, etched in a vagabond’s quill, across the other. And
with these fists coming at you in unison, you copped a taste of his,
LOVE POEM. He walked the crooked lines of this world,
straightening them out with a little, LOVE POEM. “My old man fixed
the world with his fists…in his memory I have a little, LOVE
POEM…” He’d start out with the POEM and then he’d flourish it
with some LOVE, his one-two, two-one strategies with bloody
tattooed gloves. He no longer used his real name, just the
combination of slugs, LOVE POEM, LOVE POEM, POEM,LOVE ,
LOVE POEM, LOVE POEM, POEM,LOVE…This hard, crooked
world could use some tenderizing, with a little LOVE POEM, LOVE
POEM, LOVE…POEM.
Copyright© 2005 by Samuel Wagan Watson
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We pay our respects to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestors of this land, their spirits and their legacy. The foundations laid by these ancestors – our First Nations Peoples – gives strength, inspiration and courage to current and future generations, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, towards creating a better Queensland.