PENCIL, PAPER, TABLE, TREE
by Maja Amanita
Perspective: The Crack Willow at Burnley Gardens
Get directions: 37°49’44.8″S 145°01’22.1″E
I am a willow standing lowly in a forest full of pencils
I am unbowed, graceful, holy, my body – my church and temple
I take this woman’s work now, fighting slowly for an outcome
That I won’t see but live daily to defy you, to astound them
Raise me worthy of all this, another fine example
For the teachers, parents, preachers;
To not appease.
To not compromise.
To not oblige blindly.
To not settle for less.
To not keep saying faithless yes.
To not negotiate deaths where we are disrespected
To not abbreviate this life to my oppression instead of my wonder.
I am not a bookend, I am a creeping carpet of wildflowers
Covering your parchment, covering your roadside, covering your city,
And if your skylines rise to meet mine, may they touch each other kindly,
And if we raise each other up, may our roots hold us lovingly.
And if I tower for a moment, let me.
And admire the view for I’ll come back as pencils too
Or the chair that’s underneath you
Or the table that you write on
Or the ashes as they fall on
And if I look backward, I will be satisfied
And if I look forward, I will see us as beautiful
And if I look upward, I will see all our branches.
Fancy responding to the Crack Willow?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maja is a rabble rouser, truth seeker, finger-pointer and knockabout gal. If you get caught in her whirlwind, good! It’s fast, fun and broods about beauty, fury and the hope and justice brought to bear by women. She seeks to unburden the words that hurt women and make them beautiful.
Words from MAJA
I had always wanted to attend Melbourne Uni. My ex-boyfriend got into Arts/Commerce and I used to skip my own classes across town to wander through the campuses, admiring trees, bluestone, sandstone, arches, flowers. All the traditions. This piece mirrors the story of the broken willow at the Burnley Gardens Uni Campus with my own experiences as feminine.
The brittle or crack willow is called so because it’s branches break off willingly, to be carried by the bodies of water it relies on for nourishment – and the branches take root further down the bank. Melbourne University has a famous one at their Burnley Campus near the Yarra River. Although in life they are stooped, they are fertile, resilient and productive with medicinal and decorative uses for traditional weaving. Interestingly they have either male or female flowers on each plant.
There is always second lives for women, in their own life or in the ether as we pass. Similarly, the willow lives on through new roots, foundations and in the crafts they take shape in in their ‘next life’.
Find out more
Explore the different trees across the University of Melbourne’s Parkville Campus here.
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