The Threat to Julimar Forest by Chalice Mining Hasn't Been Forgotten

 

Silence

 

Don’t mistake silence for silence.

Because I have been sweating and shaking

and my heart beating too fast,

don’t for a moment think that I’ve

 

forgotten Julimar forest and all

that dwells in its ambit. Don’t for

a moment think that my silence

is a silence that absorbs the gouge

 

of drill bits, that falls into the ‘future’

as if a forest was never there. This

mining colonialism relies on silence

from those it feels ultimately

 

are within its grasp; that after

a ‘song and a dance’ they’ll lapse

back into silence, be happy to see

one or two cockatoos and maybe a photo

 

of a woylie, that they’ll simply

comply by citing, I accept that this world

is a rechargeable battery, a battery that grows,

a battery to store and release

 

all earthly energy. But no,

I won’t be silent in my silence —

the roots of a forest hold and store

an ineffable energy that impels speech.

 

 

            John Kinsella