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
Traffic Island; Corolla Island
Traffic Island
Traffic island on 69th and Myrtle
in Ridgewood, the bricks edge to edge
evenly in perfect rectangles
except the borders where the curb
shores them in irregularly,
cut short or slanted around the feet
of the bus benches, mailbox, flower pot.
Their grid is spiral-plotted
by the feet of a fervent believer.
A spell of twirling, stepping left or right
with fingers and wrists torquing
an invisible sphere, twirling again,
the olive-drab thawb ruffling out
like an Elizabethan collar,
the taqiyah tilted back
with the back of the head,
eyes heavenward.
And then I see he means to say
that I’m not welcome. Says I’m a homo.
Because I believe we’re truly brothers
I sit silent on the bench to taunt him.
Next to the fish market,
the turkeys are crammed in
in white and dirty white
in a dirty grey garage
with metal shelving cages.
They all crane with nervous gobbles
toward the sunlight,
their white heads
baldish and priestly.
We have…
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
