Robert Maddox-Harle (Towards Visibility)

Robert Maddox-Harle

DOORS OF PERCEPTION

 

The pedestal is slowly burning

watched by the Winged Serpent,

now the mission bells have been silenced

the damage and carnage gradually exposed,

recognised reluctantly as, Cultural Genocide.

 

The secret language of colour shouts

“Behold the Key to the Evolution of this World

Beware the deception of the Triad”,

the masters of mind deception are faltering

staggering in the mire of their own distorted minds

some incarcerated, “for the natural term”,

their citedels of power crumbling daily,

they cling desperately to childish myths

“The End is Nigh”,

DNA has torn away the veils of deception,

networked information exposed the lies.

 

Indigenous cultures destroyed wilfully and forcefully

the destruction empowered by Colonial Superiority,

now slowly these cultures are painstakingly salvaged

exhumed from the desecrated remains

for humans free of entrained guilt and fear

to understand – learn – appreciate,

opening the Doors of Perception

to true freedom.

 

 

TEARS OF HEALING

 

she walks in light

shining with enticing serenity

in a place between obscurity and transparency

challenging deceptions and prejudices

restoring cultural memories and histories,

histories ignored

histories deliberately obliterated,

the toxicity of colonialism lingers on.

 

travelling softly in an ancient land

passing yellow-red sandstone

the warm gibbers hold secrets

secrets unknowable to the ignorant,

sites of conception and creation,

sites of initiation,

sites for tjukurpa connections,

communication portals to wise ancestors.

 

gubba - gubba

dig it up – cut it down,

the mindless arrogance   

defaced our sacred land,

a harsh though gentle land,

now the winds of change are blowing

 

her tears fill the water holes

billimari – billimari,

reinvigorating the dying earth

washing away the senseless killing,

years of European dominance

gradually exposed and cleansed -
soon the Rainbow Serpent will return.

 

1 – gubba .. non-Aboriginal person

2 – billimari .. plenty water

3 – gibber .. boulder

4 – tjukurpa .. Dreamtime, Ancestral Law

 

...LAUGHING MACUSHLA

 

master of the Heart Chakra

lives on in the iridescence of sunsets.

A short life

each breath creating, dancing, laughing,

teaching us to transcend the intellect.

Plunging naked, innocently

into the mystery of life.

She reified her love

in dance,

and paint

and light,

for all of us to share.

 

NB: Macushla Doyle was an amazing young woman, she died tragically young in her twenties, she had Down Syndrome and yet created a wonderful world of art.

One of her paintings, “My Father”

Robert Maddox-Harle (aka Rob Harle) is an artist, poet, and reviewer. His work is published in journals, anthologies, online reviews, books and he has four volumes of his own poetry published – Scratches & Deeper Wounds (1996) -Mechanisms of Desire (2012) - Winds of Infinity (2016) – The Blazing Furnace

(2022). Recently received Lifetime Literary Achievement Award 2021 (GIEWEC). He is currently a member of the: Leonardo Review Panel: Member of Editorial Board of numerous international literature journals: Australian–NZ editor for Setu Journal. Artwork, Publications, Reviews, and selected writings are available from his website: https://www.maddoxharle.com

---

Setu, September 2023 :: Towards Visibility