Rapper Ziggy Ramo has shared a poem titled 'Welcome' that responds to the booing of an Elder during a Welcome to Country at an Anzac Day dawn service. The poem, part of Australian Poetry Month, confronts the contradiction of a day dedicated to remembrance while disrespecting Indigenous custodians.
Poem's context and inspiration
Ramo wrote 'Welcome' after Uncle Ray Minniecon was booed while performing a Welcome to Country at an Anzac Day dawn service. The timing mattered, as it wasn't just that an Elder was disrespected, but that it happened on a day supposedly dedicated to remembrance and sacrifice.
The poem begins with the familiar rhythm of public acknowledgment, then turns it inside out: 'I'd like to acknowledge / the lack of knowledge.' Ramo wanted the poem to sound like a ceremony collapsing under the weight of what it refuses to say.
Themes and meaning
Ramo notes that Australia is comfortable remembering some wars and forgetting others. The poem highlights the bitter irony that Anzac Day is sacred, but the frontier wars are rarely spoken of with the same reverence. Aboriginal people have long been fighting and dying for Country.
The poem is blunt because the moment was blunt. 'Finders keepers' becomes the logic of invasion, and a 'seat at the table' becomes a conditional invitation. 'Welcome' is about being invited in and rejected at the same time, and about refusing the accusation that telling the truth makes one ungrateful.
Australian Poetry Month runs throughout August, featuring festivals, events, workshops, and a commissioned poem of the day by Red Room Poetry.
