‘Dadirri’ means ‘inner deep listening and quiet still awareness.’ It is a ‘tuning in’ to listen and wait. The waiting is important. And it is something we are not used to doing. My poetry collection called A Call to Listen was inspired by reading Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann’s speech to the Australian people. nextwave.org.au/Dadirri-Inner-Deep-Listening M-R Ungunerr-Baumann
In the following poem I arrived at this place smug and full of ‘knowing’ the scientific . . .geological story . However being privileged to sit with a local Indigenous woman and listen to the Indigenous story inspired the following poem
coolamon* dreaming
desert night
a thousand stars drip
over our finke river camp in ormiston pound
dwarfed by walls of rock
heat sighs as it cools
gentle on our cheeks
now firelight flickers on our faces
smug in geological knowledge
that we are camped in a meteor crater
we lounge back
and listen
to the elder
weaves her dreamtime stories
into the tapestry of creation
her eyes dark as night
draw us in
the baby star fell
ancestors tell of a fierce light
its crash to this place
she points up
see the coolamon from where it fell
her finger curves the outline
of a black space in the sky
and still each day
its parents the morning and evening star
circle the earth in search
of their fallen child
i sleep the dreaming
breathe the ancient air
in awe feel connected
aware of the stars as my ancestors
i wake
to hues of mustard and ochre red
last curdles of smoke from the ashen fire
and watch the morning star
journey cobalt-blue sky
* Coolamon a basin-shaped wooden carry-dish made and used by some first peoples (Macquarie)