geoff goodfellow
   
kleva voomun
media responses & other news
home

poems

    Reminders  
    The Luxury of Work
    The Violence of Work  
    Miles Away  
    Don't Call Me Lad  
    Turning in Circles  
    
Kleva Voomun
reviews
    Poems for a Dead Father
    Punch On Punch Off

study guides   

These companies support me; so please support them.

Kleva Voomun

I kleva voomun-
speek five langvij
    Enklish
    Arabic
    Turkish
    Kurdish
    Rushun

mi naem Suheyla
from Baghdad
    but Baghdad
no moor
    Saddam kill mi
if i return    hang mi
but i luv heer

i goot hellth
    kleva voomun
goot mind-
    i run from Iraq
in March 1991
    i got 3 chouldren
2 gerl    1 boy

i don’t vunt mi sun
die for nutheeng
in Amerika voor
    i tell him sun-
to run
    i run with him

everiday i cri
    i’m friitink
i run with doorturs
too
    got no husbund-
that bich man
i don’t wun to si
no moor
    he live Amerika-
Chicargo
    i sine for deevoors
long time ago
    1978
i got nutheeng now
    mi doorturs maree
    sun maree
thay lif Germany
    but i lif heer-
Orrstralia

wen i run with chouldren
    Kurdistan
    Turkey
nobodee gif mi wun bred
    kristchun peepul
ar good
    how thay saa
Grate Britisch
    i saa
Grate Orrstralia

i am singool
    i am aloan
        i am okay.

 

My work has been set on the prescribed text list in Tasmania for Independent Study by English Studies students. Download pdf (116k)

Mark Seymour and the Melbourne Workers' Theatre are working up a new show on building workers. Mark has combined a couple of my poems 'Overtime' and 'The Violence of Work' and has produced a demo of a new song 'Monday to Friday'. I'll keep you posted

Visit the ABC website: hear me discussing my life and my poetry

Fighting racism on the Northern Plains

punch on punch off poster series

Check out Phil Doyle's discussion of my work in the September 2004 Workers Online

Listen to my 18 October discussion with Life Matters' Julie McCrossin

images from recent launches

Jane Sullivan's piece on me in the Age, Sat 30 October 2004

Interviewed by James Griffin on 'The Last Word'

contact me