John Leonard poetry collection

Hi everyone

Just a notice to say that my fourth poetry collection is now available from Ginninderra Press (http://www.ginninderrapress.com.au/page1/poetry.html and scroll down to the Ls) for $20.00 + p & p, or can be ordered from bookshops.

It contains 43 of my poems from the last five years and although there are no specific bird poems, it contains many poems of relevance to ecology and conservation.

I have David’s permission to post this here. This is not a commercial post as there is no way I can make any money out of the collection unless Oprah recommends it :-)

Here is the title poem:

BRAIDED LANDS

You must know that our time here,
As ourselves, our spectral nations,
Is nearly over.
                            Indeed it has already passed
In those braided lands where time
Co-exists with time, and the future
Stands as corrective to our truths.

There, a history of necessity
And chance is given to change,
And to time’s forgetfulness.
In these wide riverlands it is
For you to live the world’s morning,
Morning after the great bloodshed.

It is for you to determine the stories,
The sacrifices, that will explain
The every time, atone for its cruelties;
Before time is given to time,
You can choose the course that leads
To you—remake time once more.

Cheers


John Leonard
www.jleonard.net