I am delighted to be able to share these two poems with you which hold a special place in my small anthology. To begin with they are associated with two very dear friends who have revealed both in their actions and charity that they have come to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a poet. That is to ‘make’, or to ‘create’ [Gk. poiein]. And so it gave me much joy to have these two symbolic poems of mine received by beloved friends, Les Murray[1] and David Brooks.[2] And Australia, I have to say, has been blessed with a good number of such enlightened poetic souls. Both poems were published in Southerly. The first, Piata Romana, Bucharest, is significant to me for it was written in Bucharest, Romania, in 2011 mid-August around the time of my 50th birthday.[3] The second, From Paphos on a Showery Morning, is also important to me for two reasons.[4] First, it was written in Paphos, Cyprus, the birthplace of my father; and it was in all likelihood the final poem that Les would request for Quadrant before his passing away.[5] I am grateful indeed to Murray and Brooks, beautiful presences not only in the context of my own life, but internationally as witnesses to the possibilities of great literature.

[1] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/les-murray

[2] https://davidbrooks.net.au/

[3] Southerly, Volume 74/2 in Australian Dreams 1, (2014), 229.

[4] Southerly, Volume 77/3 in Mixed Messages, (2017), 171.

[5] Les made this request in private correspondence only a few months before he passed April 29th 2019. No doubt he would have had a great chuckle at the juxtaposition of Murray and Astaire! The poem was not republished as that was the last time I would hear from my beloved friend of close to twenty years.

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