Bird Signatures
Tiny spinnakers
of blue wrens wag among waves
of uncut lawn grass
*
Dapper lyre bird:
wonder what he’s typing there
below the study
*
A shrike thrush whistling
so piercingly it unseats the
ballast of our mind
*
Old river port, flooded
to mush, with bottles pacing
in it as avocets
*
Wood sawn by Nippon,
Oz nail pulled out for a cry:
the Nankeen night heron
Les Murray
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