South Sea Shuffle
A cynic or medical scientist might say
It is the Amiodarone kicking in
But my heart begs to differ.
The moment I placed both feet
On African soil
And removed the shaking left leg
From the Antipodes
My fibrillation cleared
And the sinus rhythm returned.
It happened eleven days before it should
And my heart tells me it was when
The soutpiel left leg straddling the Indian Ocean
Swung over to join the firmly planted right
In Africa.
At that precise moment
The heart of Africa beat
And welcomed me home;
My Africa, my home.
My head wonders …
soutpiel = a person who cannot give up allegiance to an overseas country and has a leg in each country, hence a “salt penis”.
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.
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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
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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
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2 mins