TRANSCRIPT
Different ages, cultures and languages, but united by the experience of displacement and marginalisation - and the search for freedom.
These poets - both established and emerging - share their ancestral stories.
Gomeroi poet Rob Waters is the 2023 Australian Poetry Slam Champion.
"I am the story that seeps up through the soles of my feet, bursting out through the tongue
On the whims of the rays of the sun
You see I am raised
And I am the stories that are yet to be told
From the tongues of my children - and all those that follow
From the first sunrise - to the first sunrise again, I am raised.
For I am Gomeroi. I am Bundjalung. I am Gumbaynggirr. I am Anēwan.
I am 600 nations strong. From this time on, I will tell my story, just as you have told yours."
For a number of the poets, at this Sydney gathering, it is the first time they’ve shared their original works so publicly - before a crowd of 70.
Lyudmila Dzyba says she relishes the opportunity to share her story.
Now 73 and a grandmother, she says fell in love with poetry as a child at the age of seven.
She says writing and sharing her poems feels good for the soul.
(Ukrainian then translated into English): "The main emotion I feel is not so much nervousness, but sadness. I feel sad about things that are happening in the war in Ukraine. Expressing my feelings through poetry, pouring them out - and maybe I can feel better because of that...For sure, poetry helps me to cope with the homesickness. But my soul, my spirit is back at home. I do want to rejoin my spirit."
She has written a poem especially for the occasion, in Ukrainian.
(Ukrainian then translated into English): "Dear mother, I so wanted to live - that’s how much I dream
For how long I dreamed
I reminded myself: even though death was flying over us every moment
I chased away thoughts of what would happen next."
Never far from her mind is the circumstances that brought her to Australia more than two years ago: Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
She explains that she feels heartsick over the destruction caused by the war - and her fervent wish is for peace.
(Ukrainian then translated into English): "It was very unexpected. No-one in Ukraine could believe it would happen because they are two neighbouring countries, with brothers and sisters living on both sides of a border. And we could never think that Russia could do that. The level of atrocities that are happening there are unthinkable.
"And what is the most painful is that so many people have left Ukraine now. And I am worried how the country will be restored. How can they fix it - when so many young people have been killed? Who will rebuild it?"
The theme of war and its impact is something that has preoccupied high school student Lujane Elwan..
"My heart pumps of resistance. If you listen closely, you'll hear the beat of freedom. When will freedom ever see the Palestinians underneath the red strands? The one sewn on with withered hands lies the beauty of my home land. Will they ever understand?
"When did our family gatherings filled with laughter become a challenge to see who could plaster a smile on their face? We say this phrase in Arabic when we shrug off the day - not to comfort us when our kids are taken away."
Lujane is the daughter of Palestinian refugees forced to flee after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, called the Nakba or catastrophe.
She says she began writing and publishing poems a few months ago - as a way of processing emotions, seeing family members caught up in the Gaza war.
"It's so hard watching from so far away, there's nothing you can do about it. And what's the difference between me and them that could have been me there and why weren't they with us? So it's definitely hard to watch everything unfold, to say that sadness is barely scratching the surface of the emotions."
She says she believes poetry does have power to impact at both an individual and community level.
"I want to build a connection with the audience. Honestly, we are more than just the numbers that we see and the Palestinian heritage is very family-centred. I actually wrote this specifically for the event, so I definitely think it's a dedicated tribute to my family and the ties that we have."
It has also been a way to maintain a strong connection with language, culture and identity.
"The world's tough. So figuring ourselves out, I think definitely once again, talking to the people around you, get an understanding of where you come from. If I didn't speak to my parents, if I didn't speak to my grandparents about where I come from, then I wouldn't know any of this.
"I think talking to the people around you and understanding where you come from; will definitely help you find that and then you can navigate from there."
Shyama Sri at non-profit settlement support group, Advance Diversity Services, helped to organise the event; with the local council, the Georges River Council, in southern Sydney.
She says Lyudmila's passion for poetry was the inspiration for the gathering - and there has been surprise too at the appetite to hear these stories from the audience.
"Poetry is really a good vehicle to explore refugee stories because it is so alive, it is so dynamic and interactive as opposed to traditional ways of telling stories, which can sometimes tend to really flatten the refugee experience.
"We believe that it was a very niche sort of area, and the fact that it would be in-language and not just one language... But obviously there is an overwhelming curiosity and an interest in hearing all the different languages on stage."
She says the settlement experience has it ups and downs - and being in community is a big part of the healing process for refugees fleeing war.
"And now here we are, two years on, of what some thought was going to be a temporary situation. And mentally (they) had not readied themselves for what the settlement journey could potentially look like long-term.
"It's difficult, they need to be involved in schools. They need to pick up the language. They need to be able to find work. It is all these things that we take for granted, that they have to start doing from scratch."
For Lyudmila, there is a yearning for a better future for Ukraine - and the families torn apart by war.
(Ukrainian then translated into English): "Crying doesn’t hurt anymore…
Let us pray simply so that there would be a home and a family – and dinner for each of us
So that we would give love to each other
For the faith and light that lived in every soul." (Applause)
