By Phil Young Copyright 2008 Sovereign Books Limited

I have read your poems Oodgeroo

And you do with poetry

What I try to do with words

And just like you write about your tribe

The Aborigines

I like to write about my tribe the whites

About their ancestry and history



I like your poems

And the way you carefully explain

The situation when the white men came

And the way he took away your traditional life

Because white thinks it’s right

And you’re better off dead

If you are not good at earning

The Western bread



And you can be excused Oodgeroo

If you are confused

About white men

Or Western Christian religions

Or our justice systems



Anyway Oodgeroo

This is what I think is true

It’s not the colour of our skin that matters

It’s the colour of your heart

Whether it’s light not dark

And not shut up with shutters



And whatever our affliction

We all choose one thing

Whether Muslim Jew or Christian

No matter what paradigm of our religion

We all choose wrong or right



So this is why I like to write

To my tribe the whites

But I find despite being white

Many can’t see the light

Cause we all need help

Just like anyone else

Paintings