John LEONARD: What must be said

What must be said

You cannot believe it possible to say
What must be said—words being
So few and dry, catchwords,
‘Your journey, our worldview’,
So hostile to living intent.

But you find the words without searching,
As at need, and they have a beauty,
As, once in a while, the desert,
At the touch of rain, is starred
Endlessly with small white flowers.

John Leonard

John Leonard Writer’s CV:

1965:           Born, Cambridge, UK
1984-87:     Read English at Oxford University, UK
1990:           Unlove (poems) published in UK
1991:           Emigrated to Australia
1991-94:     PhD studies at University of Queensland; ‘Lyric and Modernity’ awarded 1995
1997:           100 Elegies for Modernity (poems, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger)
2003:           Jesus in Kashmir (poems, Canberra, Proensa)
2003-07:     Poetry Editor, Overland (Melbourne)
2009:           Poem published in Best Australian Poetry 2009 (Melbourne, Black Inc)
2010:           Braided Lands (poems, Ginninderra Press, Adelaide)
2010:           The Way of Poetry (criticism linking poetry and Daoism; Three Pines Press, Dunedin, Florida) (see www.threepinespress.com, under ‘Dao Today’ tab)
2014:           A Spell, A Charm (poems, Melbourne, Hybrid Publishers

Poetry widely published in quality journals, eg Overland, Meanjin, Island
Poems translated into French, Spanish, Croatian and Chinese and published in those versions, eg When the Moon Is Swimming Naked: Australasian Poetry for the Chinese Youngster, Ed Kit Kelen and Mark Carthew, ASM Poetry, Association of Stories in Macao, 2013 (8 poems), http://poetassigloveintiuno.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/7271-john-leonard.html (5 poems)&c
Poems published in anthologies eg The Best Australian Poems 2009, (Melbourne, Black Inc), The Turnrow Anthology of Contemporary Australian Poetry 2014, Canberra Poets Anthology 2014

Website: www.jleonard.net

february 2017
magazine fleursdumal.nl

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