Crossing
Six cyclists wait at a level-crossing,
three couples or something more random,
leaning into definition or from it.
This is a cinematic moment, asking
for a full treatment, a story to embed
itself in, or one of those shy epiphanies
needing a grand event to snap-freeze
it into poignancy. Your mind plays
with a hint of a sound-track, a faint beat
of helicopter-blades building to a hot breath
of threat or the distant but pervasive
roaring of cyclone or tsunami.
In the trick of a light-shift, the cycles
melt into horses, the riders sprout cabbage-tree
hats, their fingers fuse into gun-barrels
and the saddle-bags bulge with bibles.
You are sweating through an old and alien
skin, watching a catastrophe cantering
cheerfully up to greet you. This is what
idle moments are for, to ramble through narratives
or have them ramble through us: lyrical,
careless, innocent of any notion of pity.
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