Go to Tassie
Go to Tassie
when the mainland is green
and the contrary little island
will be brown as a boot.
Go when the big island
is full of fire and dust
and the small one
will wash you in green rain.
There will be cherry blossom
serviced by bumble bees,
and bright dimpled hills.
There will be cold fronts
shouting with rain—
full-bodied raindrops
that bounce off the skin
and splatter with good intentions.
Your umbrella will die,
the markets will fizzle out,
but you don’t care,
it is green rain, on a green island,
set under a giving sky.
Once Tassie was a dungeon,
a place of hunted men,
this spring it is free,
and dancing with the raindrops
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