Oodgeroo Noonuccal was born Kathleen Jean Mary Ruska, formerly Kath Walker) (3 November 1920 – 16 September 1993). She was an Australian Aboriginal political activist, artist and educator. She was also a campaigner for Aboriginal rights.  In 1988 she adopted a traditional name: Oodgeroo (meaning "paperbark tree") Noonuccal (her tribe's name). Oodgeroo was best known for her poetry, and was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse. Her first book of poetry was extraordinarily successful, selling out in several editions, and setting Oodgeroo well on the way to be Australia's highest-selling poet. Oodgeroo embraced the idea of her poetry as propaganda, and described her own style as "sloganistic, civil-writerish, plain and simple.' She wanted to convey pride in her Aboriginality to the broadest possible audience, and to popularise equality and Aboriginal rights through her writing. She published two children’s books, Strad...

Recipes are written with a precise use of language. The application of action words in the form of vivid verbs is a feature of this form of writing. I love the clear intent of words such as: sift, dice, boil, sprinkle, sauté, blanche, pinch, muddle, chop, whip, slice, bake, season, salt, soak, plunge, dissolve, melt, boil. What if these verbs were applied to a non-cooking topic? Could we create recipes for animals, traveling, feelings and emotions, seasons, learning or many other topics? I recall a wonderful activity Natalie Goldberg presented in her book, 'Writing Down The Bones' (page 87, The Action of A Sentence) that coupled verbs one generally associates with kitchen actions with common nouns in order to create fresh new sentences and to increase writers awareness of the power verbs possess. A further possibility is creating a recipe for some wondrous, new, edible delight… Elaine Magliaro’s poem is a wonderful example of this approach. Elaine skilful...