Les Murray / Perverse and Poignant

Les Murray: a man of few words except in his poetry. And his poetry says it all. I discovered in this session, as I did in Jan Owen’s session, the diversity of Les’ poetry. From the perverse to an ode to his long-time friend, Les is able to arrange words to create a world, an image, a perspective. He is able to create poems that are perverse and poems that are poignant. His ability to do this amazes me and I loved hearing him read his own poems, often with a little dry laugh at the end of the witty poems. A continuing theme has become evident to me throughout these sessions: poetry is diverse and can be arranged in a number of ways. Anyone can write poetry if they just give it a go. I can write poetry if I just give it a go, like I used to when I was a teenager. Poetry doesn’t always have to be epic and wonderful and beautiful and poignant. It can just be honest and straight forward and even perverse. And that is what Les taught me. Poetry doesn’t always have to be pretty or about lovely things, because that isn’t accurate to life or people. Poetry can be imperfect, just like life and people. Perhaps, the best thing, as Les himself said is to just end a poem. Don’t stress and fuss over how it will end, just end it. I think I need to apply that attitude to my poetry writing from now on.