Of all the poems we have looked at in the last two weeks (either in lectures or tutorials) which struck home most forcibly for you? Can you say why? Give a short synopsis of what it was about the poem that touched your thoughts and/or feelings.
Lisa Bellear’s Urbanised Reebocks is a poem about displacement of identity. Bellear who is reflecting on her Aboriginal and Western cultures, demonstrates to the reader the stark realities about the division of cultures in Australia, causing individuals like herself to feel lost within themselves.
When I was young, my family owned a farm in Nowendoc, in the Northern Tablelands. This poem struck home for me as I once recall seeing an Aboriginal man, wearing shoes similar to those “Reebocks” described in the poem, on the side of the road who seemed to be lost. Sitting in the car, surrounded by my family, DVD player, dog and car snacks, I had never known the loneliness described in Bellear’s poem, yet I received insight into it from seeing this Aboriginal man. Bellear uses the “Reebocks” as a symbol of assimilation throughout her poem and to show how the intrinsic connection between land and Aboriginal culture is broken by the wearing of shoes and sunglasses. The use of truncated sentences in the poem, emphasises her torn emotions between the two cultures, as the reader is made to stop and mid-sentence and try to understand her pain. The line, “Reebocks/ of sadness which hides its loneliness,” directly shows the impact of a Western and foreign culture on Ballear, as she is conflicted and yearns to belong to one world. I can’t help but look back and feel sad and lonely for the man on the road. I should have felt that he belonged and was experiencing his connection to the land around him and not starkly contrasted by the clothes and shoes he wore. Would it have been a different feeling if he wore no shoes at all?
Caitlin McCartney 
I love this entry and don’t want to make corrections to it. It reads well and shows a keen interest in the literature we are studying and its relationship to your own experience. Great work Caitlin!
MG
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Hey Caitlin,
It was your personal story that brought the poem to life for me. Before reading your blog post I hadn’t thought much of Lisa Bellear’s “Urbanised Reebocks”. I find it hard to relate and empathise with situations that I haven’t necessarily been apart of myself. It was your reflection however, that allowed me to look at the poem with new eyes and a new perspective on a culture I’ve never really known. You write about such a simple personal experience, often it only takes a simple situation to alter our perceptions on what we thought we knew. The simplicity of your encounter perhaps is what engaged me most.
Your analysis of the poem connects well with your own story. Building upon Lisa’s words in her poem is your own interpretation that has derived from personal experience. For me, this made the blog post even more intriguing, especially when you write “Bellear uses the “Reebocks” as a symbol of assimilation throughout her poem and to show how the intrinsic connection between land and Aboriginal culture is broken by the wearing of shoes and sunglasses”. Subsequently, you precede to discuss ideas of a loss of identity and a loss of innocence. These are themes that I believe have been brought to life in your writing, purely because of your experience and how it has made you feel.
Finally, your rhetorical question may in fact have been my favourite line in your writing “Would it have been a different feeling if he wore no shoes at all?”. I guess we will never know, will we?
My only criticism is that I had wish you had written more!
Nice blog post Caitlin!
J.J.S
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