Australian Poet

[Heather]

I've just discovered the poetry of Leon Gellert - an Australian man who served in WW1. Most of his poems appear to be war related and some of them are beautiful poems. Leon died in 1977. Here is a sample of his work. And if you are lucky, Neville might discuss the workings of the poem and how clever it is.....

The Husband
by Leon Gellert

Yes, I have slain, and taken moving life
From bodies. Yea! And laughed upon the taking;
And, having slain, have whetted still the knife
For more and more, and heeded not the making
Of things that I was killing. Such 'twas then!
But now the thirst so hideous has left me.
I live within a coolness, among calm men,
And yet am strange. A something has bereft me
Of a seeing, and strangely love returns;
And old desires half-known, and hanging sorrows.
I seem agaze with wonder. Memory burns.
I see a thousand vague and sad tomorrows.
None sees my sadness. No one understands
How I must touch her hair with bloody hands.

[Vic Jefferies]

A marvelous poet whose best known poem (in my opinion) and one of my very favourite war poems is Anzac Cove:
Anzac Cove

There’s a lonely stretch of hillocks:
There’s a beach asleep and drear:
There’s a battered broken fort beside the sea.
There are sunken trampled graves:
And a little rotting pier:
And winding paths that wind unceasingly.
There’s a torn and silent valley:
There’s a tiny rivulet
With some blood upon the stones beside its mouth.
There are lines of buried bones:
There’s an unpaid waiting debt :
There’s a sound of gentle sobbing in the South.

Says it all in twelve lines!

[Heather]

Vic you beat me to the post. I was going to post that one later - isn't it brilliant? It describes Anzac Cove to a T. I think this is his poem best too. I also like that Leon Gellert is succinct in his poetry - he shows how a poem can be short and brilliant! Why isn't this Australian poet better known? Is is because most of his poetry appears to be war related?

Vic do you know if he continued to write poetry once he returned from the war? I'd like to read anything he wrote that's not war related.

Heather

[Maureen K Clifford]

Must be the day for discoveries - i have just come across some great WWI poetry by Edwin F. Gerard ( Gerardy) The Horse that Died for me being one of them. I am featuring some of his work in the TAT Poetry Magazine Remembrance Day issue.

I don't recall ever having heard his name mentioned or having ever read any of his work before either.

[Vic Jefferies]

Heather Gellert published a couple of books of his poetry but I think his war stuff is his best. If you go to http://www.poemhunter.com/leon-gellert/biography/ you will find a number of his poems and a useful biography.

[Heather]

Thanks Vic, I've already looked at poemhunter and a couple of other sites. Most seem to be war poems. I can't believe we know so little about him.

[Stephen Whiteside]

I've heard this poem as a song, but I can't remember who it was.