Latest Articles
We are encouraged to rely more and more on government officials to do for us what we could equally well do for ourselves—and, maybe more importantly, not to do what might help us solve our own problems.
Sep 08 2024
10 mins
If we imagine a metric called the Pinocchio Scale, which measures the number of lies told by a politician as a percentage of his or her overall public statements, our current prime minister (for want of a better description), Airbus Albo, has moved well into uncharted territory.
Sep 06 2024
5 mins
Terry Persun: ‘Pockets’
Pockets
Eight
Dirt or hay, dried grass,
remnants of broken toys,
tools you misunderstood,
fingers digging deeply
for something more.
Fifteen
Pencil erasers, stones
from the creek, bones
found at the back step,
used band-aids, a hole
from forced fingers of shyness.
Twenty-four
Change from a purchase,
a wedding ring removed
but not discarded, the last
love-note received, a reminder
that you’re not invisible.
Forty-six
Folded bills and ticket stubs,
from concerts, operas, museums
or zoos, a restaurant receipt
and the new number
for where your kids live now.
Sixty-three
Stones found at river’s edge,
seashells from an abandoned beach,
a crystal that purports happiness
and creativity, a slip of paper
where you’ve written her last words.
Terry Persun
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins
