Cath Drake: Middle-aged Karma
Middle-aged Karma
I was shaky drunk and weepy in a mauve ball-gown
that fell awkwardly on angular bones. He sat
next to me and asked what was wrong as if he might
get a comprehensible answer when everyone else
had lost patience. With a square haircut, a 50-year-old
in 17-year-old skin, he didn’t seem to want anything.
I wanted a ratbag with more attitude than I could muster,
someone to take me away, someone as cracked as I was.
Oh, I crashed and burned with the wrong ones for years
and decades later wondered what he was really like.
It seemed karmic that in our school reunion photo
he was the middle-aged spunk, shining in grey hair.
Cath Drake
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