Andrew Lansdown: Dearly Departed
Dearly Departed
So much of it, my childhood,
departed this world with you.
Though I lived it, I can bring back
only brief moments of it:
candle-smoke and a blue trike,
a Band-Aid on a skinned knee,
your bosomy hugs during
nights of dread dreams about … what?
Mother, I meant to ask you
so many things about me,
so many whens, hows and whys
that can never now be known.
The loss of both your presence
and my history presses on me
as an ever-present absence.
Andrew Lansdown
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