Here at Passive Complicity we have had great pleasure in bringing you a week focussing on Mothers. But first a word from Errol: “I know I am contradiction inside contradiction.  I know that truth is sometimes an octagon and that I am one.  I can love women and hate them and this may seem a contradiction.  Contradiction is a cardinal element of life and of itself it may be no contradiction. You can love every instant of living and still want to be dead. I know this feeling often.  Don’t tell me that contradiction is wrong.  Some people say “That is a contradiction,” as if something defies logic or understanding and is therefore not true.”  From My Wicked Wicked Ways, by Errol Flynn 1959.

Our first post was a piece by Ira Maine who argued, quite persuasively, that “Mothers are Essential”.  He goes on to postulate that “by inventing Mothers, (God) only just avoided (by the skin of His teeth) setting back humanity’s progress by some millions of years.”  Read this piece here

Award winning Nunga poet, Ali Cobby Eckermann brought us her wonderful poem “Mum said”.  Read it here

We learnt more of Quentin Cockburn’s family, where he tells of the regular pilgrimage he and his mother make.  His piece, “Mother’s Pilgrimage” can be read here

Restorative Sherry was the first of two posts by Cecil Poole on his mother.  This talks of the stresses on motherhood and running a household in the fifties, and a surprising outcome.  His second piece, Mum and her BMW, deals with living and dying with emphysema, sadness and laughter.

This week’s Musical Dispatch from the Front discusses colonialism and the lessons learnt in Kerala and Ireland.

We finished the week with Poetry Sunday, edited by Ira Maine.  Despite being asked to give other poets a go, and him placing two ancient poems, he managed to get his own rhyme in.

Happy reading.
Cecil and Quentin.