The criticism often made of so-called protest poetry is that the polemic nature of its structure and language detracts from its beauty as poetry. It is a charge we have seen leveled at Oodgeroo, and while a great deal of that criticism appears to have been an unfair over-reaction to her politics, it is true that over the course of her career she has written poems which are confined to making statements, with less regard to form and intonation than in others. For poets who write to be read aloud, the results may sound more like a shout than a song (which is indeed the aim of the exercise).
In many of his poems, Lionel Fogarty has managed to create a synthesis of the two.
Fogarty has continued the tradition of writing radical protest poetry, but also adapts the English language (and its crossover pidgin dialects) to his own purpose as an Aboriginal writer with issues to raise. He creates from that process memorable imagery and an often-melodic verse style, while retaining a strong political voice.
The same connection between people, land, elements, animals, reptiles, insects and plant-life embraced by Oodgeroo is set out clearly in Lionel Fogarty’s poem ‘Ecology’. (4) The poem’s “I” is all things, from a frill-necked lizard, to dugong, grasshopper, and dingo, to the utensils of a people involved in, and with, all life around them. This makes the land an active player, and makes clear the difficulty in attempting to separate animal and plant-life featured in poetry from landscape. Even “death harmless” has an integral role to play, which is not the usual fearful dying, but rather a normal part of a fragile and complicated ecology in which all things are related:
Yes I am termite, better still
butterflies are my beetles, wasps friends
You are nature’s crocodile
even pythons are not inadequate, nor geckoes.
We are goannas
after salt water got grounded.
Fogarty reinforces the positive view of Aboriginal traditional life, as its own ecological system, which he presents in opposition to those white influences he sees as destructive of both traditional ways and the earth itself:
I am club, woomera,
an agile, well-balanced bandicoot
flying fox and an ABORIGINAL
our systems woven from an eco-system
so don't send us to pollution
we are just trying to picture
this life without frustration.
Another of Fogarty's poems, ‘Shields Strong, Nulla Nullas Alive’ (5), outlines the inter-relatedness of Aboriginal culture and country, in this description of a work of Aboriginal art:
Landscapes
lovers relate
snakes, wild dingo, emus, birds, animals,
just like fruit salad.
The poem links the works produced by Aboriginal craftspeople and artists with the traditions which live on in, and give meaning to, more recent artworks. These traditions, and therefore the works of art (and poetry) are inseparable from the people's concept of their country and their place within it. The strengthening of contemporary understanding of traditional cultures has led to a revitalisation of the cultures:
Stunning outrageous woomeras
flew spears that side cornered
Arnhem lands ...
Carvings came flying through didgeridoos
over Kimberley roots.
Timber prides
simple ornament like mulga wood crafted
Maningrida distinct types
Fogarty is allowing the reader to appreciate the long lines of creativity that can be traced through generations, and which continue as an alive culture despite attempts by the colonising powers and missionaries to eliminate it as a force in the lives of the people. This colonising process included the push to improve the land itself, something Fogarty claims is fruitless:
Fantastic lush property
pumped to a gallon of manure
could you believe that this we were told
was better than
what we had.
The poem ends with a warning to the dominant white culture, and an empowering cry for the Aboriginal community which, like ‘Community Rain Song’, emphasises the value of the traditional ways of life:
An intact society based on quality of life.
How sad for you.
Our shields are strong
Nulla nullas alive.