Understand Old One
Understand Old One - meaning Summary
City Meets Ancestral Memory
The poem imagines an elder returning to a drastically changed landscape: a former campsite replaced by a noisy, urban environment. It contrasts the old peaceful life of red fires and quiet water with towering buildings, planes, and traffic, suggesting cultural dislocation and the shock of modernity. The speaker emphasizes loss and transformation, prompting readers to consider how progress disrupts Indigenous places and memories.
Read Complete AnalysesWhat if you came back now To our new world, the city roaring There on the old peaceful camping place Of your red fires along the quiet water, How you would wonder At towering stone gunyas high in air Immense, incredible; Planes in the sky over, swarms of cars Like things frantic in flight.
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