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<\/a><\/p>\nLast Wednesday we conducted a Vigil for the Manus Island refugees, detained by our own heartless federal government and Papua New Guinea. The event was organised by\u00a0Juan Garrido\u00a0Salgado, his son Lenin and the Pablo Neruda Cultural Committee SA and sponsored by Writing Through Fences<\/a>. We sat \u2013 or stood \u2013 on the steps of Parliament House and read and listened to chilling poetry from the men held in the Manus concentration camp (for that\u2019s what it is) for over four years. I joined SA poets Ali Cobby Eckermann,\u00a0\u00a0Amelia Walker,\u00a0Ian Gibbins,\u00a0Sergio Holas\u00a0and\u00a0Juan\u00a0Garrido and speakers Lenin, Jaimie Newlyn, a whistle-blowing Manus nurse (whose name I\u2019m embarrassed to say I\u2019ve forgotten!) with beautiful music from Jen Lush.<\/p>\n I read my poem the bird leaves its cage<\/em> and enters another<\/em> (dedicated to Juan Garrido) and an extract from Manus detainee Mohammad Ali Malecki\u2019s Truth in The Cage<\/a><\/p>\n Last Wednesday we conducted a Vigil for the Manus Island refugees, detained by our own heartless federal government and Papua New Guinea. The event was organised by\u00a0Juan Garrido\u00a0Salgado, his son Lenin and the Pablo Neruda Cultural Committee SA and … Continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"