Latest Articles
It's hard to believe the attention paid to Raygun's Paris absurdities, but there may be deeper lessons in that writhing and posing
Sep 10 2024
10 mins
From a perspective of some eighty years it is possible to misunderstand or underestimate the intensity of the fears—but also the hopes and aspirations—of the British people as they faced up to another colossal existential challenge, less than a full generation after what, it was now suddenly clear, had only been the first world war
Sep 10 2024
11 mins
The Republican presidential contender is an acquired taste. Given the alternative, it's a taste persnickety conservatives should make the effort to acquire
Sep 09 2024
4 mins
Mary Jones: Two Poems
Pied Cormorant
Stealthy head rises without warning
body follows as an afterthought
low in the water, reluctant
to show its full extent
to watching
eyes.
Fishing finished
resting on rock,
wings
are hung out
to dry, quivering
tail feathers shimmying
impatient to be wind-baked,
immaculate, to glide and dive again.
Ladies Who Lunch
The restaurant at the winery
fills with chatter,
the Musak of low voices
a gentle background hum.
The descant startles
when it first erupts
in shrieks of laughter.
Heads are turned
towards the window table
where the flock has settled.
The noise continues
they peck at salads,
sipping wine
easing off under the table
uncomfortably elegant shoes.
Their voices soar and swoop,
shrilling
spilling
filling the air around them.
They share dessert,
retrieve capacious handbags from the floor,
split the bill
are gone in a flurry of air kisses.
Colourful and gregarious.
Several species may feed together.
Voice: noisy screech while in flight,
more pleasant note while feeding.
Locally abundant.
Common in parkland and in gardens,
and in wineries.
Pied Cormorant
Stealthy head rises without warning
body follows as an afterthought
low in the water, reluctant
to show its full extent
to watching
eyes.
Fishing finished
resting on rock,
wings
are hung out
to dry, quivering
tail feathers shimmying
impatient to be wind-baked,
immaculate, to glide and dive again.
Ladies Who Lunch
The restaurant at the winery
fills with chatter,
the Musak of low voices
a gentle background hum.
The descant startles
when it first erupts
in shrieks of laughter.
Heads are turned
towards the window table
where the flock has settled.
The noise continues
they peck at salads,
sipping wine
easing off under the table
uncomfortably elegant shoes.
Their voices soar and swoop,
shrilling
spilling
filling the air around them.
They share dessert,
retrieve capacious handbags from the floor,
split the bill
are gone in a flurry of air kisses.
Colourful and gregarious.
Several species may feed together.
Voice: noisy screech while in flight,
more pleasant note while feeding.
Locally abundant.
Common in parkland and in gardens,
and in wineries.
Mary Jones
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
