Keywords: National Poetry Day
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Brendan Byrne
- 04 July 2012
2 Comments
'And the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us, and we saw his glory, full of grace and truth' (John 1:1, 14). In the second-last conversation I had with Peter, we agreed that that text should be the Gospel for his Requiem. There is a sense, I’m sure, in which every poem that Peter wrote was an instance of the Word becoming flesh.
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AUSTRALIA
• We passed this law in the night time of your mourning. We listened but you said nothing. We watched but you did nothing for yourselves.• Today we are crying but today and tomorrow, we are ready to take back the future you stole from us. But not with all the love in our bodies and our skies will weever be able to take away the shame from you.
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AUSTRALIA
- Philip Harvey
- 11 May 2012
50 Comments
The readiness of Australians to design a flag that is agreed to and honoured ought to be on the agenda of any forward-looking party. Otherwise a day will come when a design will be foisted on us that no one likes and has no distinctive meaning. One only has to listen to the national anthem to know Australians are capable of embracing second best.
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AUSTRALIA
The Budget confirms one thing that both sides of politics agree on, and that's their belief in the existence of an undeserving poor. There's nothing wrong with bringing home the bacon for middle Australia. But the people living at the rough end of Struggle Street are trying to get by on baked beans.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Philip Harvey
- 25 April 2012
16 Comments
Should I even be saying all this to people I have never met? What do I say? How far do I go? My paternal grandfather, Edgar, was not only an Anzac but among those who landed nearly 100 years ago at the Turkish cove. Even among my family his experiences are still largely passed over in silence.
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AUSTRALIA
- John Falzon
- 19 October 2011
8 Comments
Recently I received an email from a young man in Queensland. He was writing to thank the St Vincent de Paul Society for the stance it takes on the side of people who are demonised for being unemployed. He told me his story. Here are some bits of it.
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AUSTRALIA
Far from being demonised, people living rough on the streets should be respected and admired for their tenacity and inventiveness. This week a group of business and community leaders will seek to learn from the people who live in the guts of our greatest social problem.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
There was a liberal use of corporal punishment in my school. We were seen as a loutish bunch of lads who needed a firm hand. It did nothing to help my education. You don't create a smart and confident Australia by taking to people with a stick.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
You ... are a man of steel with an impotent nation in your care: talk peace; but make strong allies everywhere.
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ARTS AND CULTURE
- Various cat poets
- 22 February 2011
4 Comments
I didn't have much hope. Soon I would be 50. Love was fitful and glorious and painful. There will always be thugs in caves murdering children and crowing. But we are capable of creating wonders beyond our imagination every second of the game.
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INTERNATIONAL
- John Falzon
- 22 December 2010
3 Comments
Dylan Thomas wrote that 'A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe.' Our 'good poem' is the listening to, and learning from, the people on the margins. But it will only be a 'good poem' if these whispers are translated into collective action.
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AUSTRALIA
- Oliver Humphries
- 01 October 2010
11 Comments
I am the unwilling custodian of some very fine paintings that no one will ever see. Whenever Mr N wants to discuss aesthetics, or Matisse's brush technique, or surrealism, I have to remind myself that he killed his wife and step-daughter with a fruit knife.
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