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
Olwyn Conrau: ‘Sewing on a button’
Sewing on a button
I am sewing a button onto my son’s school shirt
I don’t darn his socks, rather I replace them
like I replaced his father and he replaced me.
I thread the fine silk through polyester.
I find holes. Empty gaping spaces that were hidden.
The thread weaves through the cloth,
around the button, strangling it into position.
I repeat the stitch over and over
so it will never escape, guaranteeing extended life.
The button now sits snuggly on its home
as if it had never attempted to leave.
The holes are hastily cobwebbed but barely visible.
I have patched up the shirt just as I patched worn knees,
found lost toys, filled stomachs, removed childhood fears.
Tomorrow, another button will flee, another hole will emerge.
Purpose will seamlessly drift. Fingers will warp and fray
as clouds crawl over parched eyes and the rip in domestic fabric
stretches beyond repair.
Olwyn Conrau
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
