Michael J Leach – Gratitunes

MJL LE P&W Feb 2023

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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing February 2023

Gratitunes, poems by Michael J. Leach


Gratitunes

Thank you, dear mother,
for getting me into soul,
most notably
the music of
Four Tops,
The Supremes
& Aretha Franklin.

Thank you, dear sister,
for getting me into pop rock,
most notably
the music of
Paramore,
Lana Del Rey
& Panic! at the Disco.

Thank you, dear brother,
for getting me into ska,
most notably
the music of
Less than Jake,
early No Doubt
& The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

Thank you, dear father,
for getting me
to occasionally
take
out
my headphones
& tune in to the ambience.


Twenty-Six Things I Remember about My Mother

1. Her aptitude for antiquities
2. Her briskly read books
3. Her celebrated celebrations
4. Her demure dresses
5. Her everyday endurance
6. Her fantastic food
7. Her genuine generosity
8. Her heart-warming heart
9. Her in-demand intuition
10. Her jolly jokes
11. Her knowledge of knickknacks
12. Her lively loquaciousness
13. Her Motown music
14. Her no-nonsense nature
15. Her optimal originality
16. Her philosophical philosophy
17. Her quixotic questions
18. Her resilient relationship
19. Her sublime selflessness
20. Her tireless truthfulness
21. Her unknown undertakings
22. Her virtuous volunteerism
23. Her way with wrought words
24. Her X-marked X-rays
25. Her yearned-for yesterdays
26. Her zigzag sign of the zodiac


© Michael J Leach

Michael J. Leach (@m_jleach) is an Australian poet, critic, and academic who works at the Monash University School of Rural Health. Michael’s poems have appeared in journals such as Cordite and Live Encounters, exhibitions such as the Antarctic Poetry Exhibition, anthologies such as Poetry d’Amour 2022: Love Poems (WA Poets Incorporated, 2022), and his two poetry books: the chapbook Chronicity (Melbourne Poets Union, 2020) and the full-length collection Natural Philosophies (Recent Work Press, 2022). Michael has won the UniSA Mental Health and Wellbeing Poetry Competition (2015), received a commendation in the Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine (2021), and jointly won the poetry category of the Minds Shine Bright Confidence Writing Competition (2022). He lives on unceded Dja Dja Wurrung Country and acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land.

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