Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Five November-December 2024
Draw, poem by Michael J Leach.
Draw
I want to draw thylacines in forest scenes
I want to draw plans for a modest home
I want to draw strength from organic fields
I want to draw the smallest crowd
I want to draw breath in your atmosphere
I want to draw a bubble bath for you
I want to draw letters, not numbers
I want to draw strings on little bags of dice
I want to draw inspiration from birdsongs
I want to draw a bow over one string
I want to draw careful conclusions
I want to draw no blood
© Michael J Leach
Michael Leach is a poet and academic who lives in Bendigo, Australia on unceded Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Michael’s poetry is featured or forthcoming in journals such as Plumwood Mountain, anthologies such as The Best Australian Science Writing 2024 (NewSouth Publishing), and his four books: Chronicity (Melbourne Poets Union), Natural Philosophies (Recent Work Press), Rural Ecologies (In Case of Emergency Press), and Chords in the Soundscapes (Ginninderra Press). Michael’s poems have won or been otherwise recognised in the UniSA Mental Health and Wellbeing Poetry Competition, Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine, Minds Shine Bright Confidence Writing Competition, Woollahra Digital Literary Award, Hush Foundation Kindness in Health Writing Prize, and Liquid Amber Press Poetry Prize: Poetry of Change.