Poetry 'discovered'

 

“Isn't it amazing the way the future succeeds in creating an appropriate past?” – John Leonard

 

Born in Great Britain in July of 1965, Leonard now makes his home in Australia where he served as poetry editor of the magazine Overland.   My first encounter with Leonard was seeing one of his lines etched onto a rugged piece of rock in a gift shop, the words reading: “It takes a long time to grow an old friend.” 

 

Among Leonard’s most celebrated works are Think of the world: Collected poems 1986-2016 and Missa Mundi, alternative texts for the four pieces of the Catholic liturgy most commonly set to music.   More about Leonard and his many writings can be found at http://www.jleonard.net/   For Saturday’s Poem, from Braided Lands, here is Leonard’s,

 

You Don't Write a Poem

You don't write a poem-

What you do is discover

That there is a world,

Quite similar to our own,

Except that it contains

This one extra poem.

 

And what you recognize

Is that this one poem

Makes all the difference