My Lover’s Ear
Lying down after a swim
my lover’s ear holds seawater
in its folded rim
like a rock pool.
Cartilage gullies plateau
into a neat damp lobe,
faintly furred
as a baby fern. Concentration
brings capillaries into view:
a river system aerial
of the most delicate tributaries.
Drawn to the warm dark
hole endlessly generating
wax, I excavate
the sticky sunlight
with a careful fingernail.
Debbie Lim
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