Friday, April 1, 2016

#87 Kevin Brophy ‘On looking into a dictionary of Walmajarri words’

This dictionary speaks of
a pujiman —
who is an Aboriginal man
who has not yet encountered white men.

We learn there is a word
for staying at home
when others have gone out—yarti
and that close to this state of quiet being
are yaru and yatu,
the words for slow and softly.

We learn that the word for belongings
is ngari
and for woman the word is
gnarinka.

We learn that the termite
is a shadow man
and that the word for chest,
tukutuku
makes you feel as proud
as a little robin singing.

2 comments:

  1. Lots of white space in this one. I lie the definitions and how you have played with them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love that idea of a word for being at home while others go out. Why don't we have that in English!

    ReplyDelete

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