Wandiny (gathering together), Using Poetic Inquiry as both the Theory and Practice of Truth Telling and Talking Back to Colonial Power

Poetry has provided Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with powerful vehicles for speaking back to colonial power. In this conference paper, this team of First and Second Nations researchers argue that poetry has the powerful potential to foreground First Nations voices, to distil the histories and experiences of First Nations peoples and to inspire truth-telling. We use a polyvocal approach juxtaposing different creative and scholarly voices to argue that poetry offers creative spaces for deep listening ('dadirri') and listening with the heart that can promote truth-telling and build connections between First Nations and white settler communities. We describe the 'Wandiny (gathering together) – listen with the heart: Uniting Nations through Poetry' research that adopts a call-and-response methodology where First Nations poets provide a call and the audience of First and Second nations school and university students, teachers, community members across multiple generations write a poetic response. This synthetical poetic becomes intergenerational, iterative and intercultural communication that can cross typical age and cultural barriers. We demonstrate this call-and-response methodology by including a poem from our Kungarakan Elder Sue Stanton with poetic responses by her co-authors. We respond to our Elders call but also to her practice, of deep listening on someone else's country, of hearing country talk and responding with poetry in lieu of song. We respond to her response and so we are all called in a reciprocal relationship of stewardship and caretaking, of listening, breathing and speaking truths about brutal colonial violence in ways that open channels of communication.