Poems That Want To Make Us Smile

Michael Leunig is naively teaching me the
art of writing in his style – the visual part
for me is hard, fewer lines to make a
larger declaration than the facts dictate.

I’ve always liked the way his lines are
never straight – eyes perceive in curves
and sways of natural rhythms graced in
quaint caricatures replacing rigid shapes.

I have tried to take his brevity in mind, to
trace a roughly pencilled line with bumps
and bruises on a page into inflated blimps
which float embracing my displaced ideas.

Of late I’ve seen a change that pleases;
Michael’s still my valued mentor though
we’ve never met and his teasing pictures
make me happy in a simple, guiltless way.

I fret with words he’s pencilled in the utmost
brevity, capture them in crafty packages I tie
with bows of pink celerity – compile them
into poems that want to make us smile.
© 19 July 2007, I.D. Carswell