Nan and Pop live in a small blue beach shack in Geraldton. Next door to them is the 29-metre red-and-white-striped

lighthouse. It reminds me of The Cat in the Hat. You can see the lighthouse as you drive into Geraldton, and in my family

you are the winner if you spot the lighthouse first. At night my siblings and I dance on the front lawn while the light circles around the sky. The adults watch us from the verandah which has a wooden sign hanging from it that says Phyllis Elizabeth Rose — a tribute to the women we have lost.

My pop will sometimes tell us stories we don't understand. But we all sit still and listen. He tells me about the woodargee, a small hairy man that clings to your spirit. He tells me he once knew a woman whose spirit was haunted by

the woodargee. The Elders tried to flick him off her shoulder but it was as if he had superglued himself to her.

My pop doesn't tell me what happened to the woman. And now sometimes when I'm dancing under the lighthouse I'm

scared that the woodargee might stick himself to me.

 

© Mabel Gibson. From CryBaby published by Night Parrot Press, 2025.

 

Mabel Gibson is a twenty-five-year-old Yamatji writer. She grew up in Boorloo (Perth), Kinjarling (Albany), and Jambinu (Geraldton), three vastly different locations with landscapes and climates that all play an important role in her story. Her work has been published in maar bidi: Next Generation Black Writing (Magabala Books), all four Night Parrot Press anthologies, Portside Review and Pulch Magazine. She has sat on panels at various festivals including Perth Writers Weekend, Ubud Writers Festival, and Margaret River Readers & Writers Festival. Mabel hopes to one day become a publisher and provide opportunities for other First Nations writers. CryBaby (Night Parrot Press) is Mabel's debut collection of micro memoir that follows her through all the seasons of life, from the brightest summers to the coldest, darkest winters and all the transitions and rebirths in between.

 

 

www.nightparrotpress.com