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Paul Collis

Paul Collis

A Barkindji man, born by the Darling River in Bourke, far north-west New South Wales, Paul is an emerging writer and poet, who works at the University of Canberra, teaching creative writing. Paul holds a PhD in cultural theory and creative writing. Dancing Home, his first novel, won the national 2016 David Unaipon Award for a previously unpublished Indigenous writer and was published by University of Queensland Press in 2017.

States of Poetry Series Three - ACT | 'Vapour trails' by Paul Collis

States of Poetry ACT - Series Three • 24 May 2018
(For my sister, Joanne) Slowly the days pass.Buses, cars, bikesall roll away, away.She is gone, down a shady street in shiny shoes.Way above, vapour trails burn the skyand way below, scars burn the land.She screams, but I can’t hear.In another street, the new suits,suit themselves, and colours burn red and gold.Noisy bastards. Shut up! Open up! Give her back. A ghost slides up next to meI fee ... (read more)

States of Poetry Series Three - ACT | 'Soon dust' by Paul Collis

States of Poetry ACT - Series Three • 24 May 2018
(for Satendra)   What happened to me What did I do to deserve that? I don’t want to be old person. I’m buggered now, poor fulla me, done, old, like dust. I should go to doctor, and ask him a question. He said, ‘Only thing worse than getting old, is not.’Wise man, Doctor. He’s like light. His eyes know. They see into me. They see that what I don’t, that I can’t see. My ha ... (read more)

States of Poetry Series Three - ACT | 'Cult-charr Jammer' by Paul Collis

States of Poetry ACT - Series Three • 24 May 2018
Yo! Whitefullas got no cult-charr!– Only meWith my arm fulla tatts, up my sleeve. – Only Us Mob!Only usGot cult-charr. Don’t tell me! I lived it, man. Us bruvas, we live it –Everyday man. We fuken live it.Blak and Proud. Deadly, un’a? Always wasAlways will beABORIGINAL LAND. Colonisation is YOURS whitefulla. Blak, proud and deadly …King Billy,Queenie,Grandfather,Grandmother,Emu i ... (read more)

States of Poetry Series Three - ACT | 'More than just a pin-prick' by Paul Collis

States of Poetry ACT - Series Three • 24 May 2018
I’d become …just a public pain.Did I make you, just a little… sick?Make me your vampire, then –your time.Take my neck.Dig deep with kisses.Let’s feel the swirl of blood.A country boy on Country is a power difference-making ...Spirit flying time with eagles – where everything’s clear.I’ll never be clear.Not in this life.Not in any time.But I can’t keep my eyes from this changing s ... (read more)