Katherine Spadaro: ‘The Squawking Bird’
The Squawking Bird
I heard tonight a squawking bird,
who squawked and squawked, with strength and skill.
His ancestors can squawk no more;
his offspring (may they multiply!)
do not yet squawk, but like a flourished ribbon with its
high point rippling on, the line must hinge on him.
His duty is himself: to walk, to fly
on soft and streamlined wings, to squawk,
to fill his lungs and squawk again. Then
scaling down a spiralled sky, to find his darkened nest
and sleep, as only those can sleep who know
this day they squawked God’s will.
Katherine Spadaro
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.
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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
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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
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2 mins