Escape Route
The distant jet-trails with their limited lengths
—those inching on out, those from nowhere inserted—
were aligned, wherever, like single-minded
eels homing up one river. Night fell: a rabbit
after healthy zig-zagging in the headlights chose
to sprint back under the tyres. Delicate, definite
sound—not troubling hard tyres but the soft brain
(in charge of a machine in charge of another).
Dawn broke cloudy, damp colourful trees, grey fugitive
ostrich farm ostrich on the road, pacing ahead
in the correct lane but viewed from a car behind
some uncertainty in the body language.
Many will disagree, but World War III is too great a risk to run by involving ourselves in a distant border conflict
Sep 25 2024
5 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