Reviewed by Beatriz Copello
Rural Ecologies
A Haiku Collection
by Michael J. Leach
in case of emergency press
July 2024, Paperback, 34 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0648611127
Michael J. Leach is not only a widely published poet but also an accomplished scientist. He writes poetry and teaches and conducts research at Monash University. Rural Ecologies is a book of Haiku but not written in the traditional western style of 17 syllables in three lines of 5/7/5 syllables respectively. Leach’s Haiku varies from three lines to two and sometimes four lines. Like all good haikus the insight and the images come from observations of the natural world. In most of this collection the haiku present an observation followed by a contrast or interpretation of the observation.
Flowers, trees, animals, and people are explored with carefully chosen words. This is a format that suits Leach perfectly, as he is able to say much with few words, for example writing about his mother’s death and what is left behind:
gumtree’s shadow—
Mum’s grave
besides her parents’
New Year’s Day
my late mother’s ginger plant
flowers
As we go through the pages of this collection we sense time passing against the beauty that the poet encounters in sparse lawns, flush fields, wild flowers, flame tress, red gums and gymea lilies. The poet’s connection to nature is evident in the many haiku about fauna. Many Australian animals feature in Leach’s work such as the Aussie wood duck, platypus, bats, flying foxes, grey kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, echidna, kookaburras and many others. Love is also frequently the subject of these poems, as in this poignant love poem:
sixteen red roses—
the first time we say
three short words
Leach is very creative in style and settings, with brilliant, vivid imagery and inventive settings. One one page he presents a haiku in two lines, the next one with three lines and one four. A haiku that particularly impressed me with its combination of verisimilitude and brevity was the following one-line poem:
sugar bowl on the countertop—ants
I was sad when the book came to an end. I was immersed the beauty of Leach’s clear-eyed observations of the natural world, the symbolism embedded in the lines and the powerful images so true to life. The poet’s love for nature is inspiring and the playful tone in some of the poems made me smile often. Rural Ecologies has much to like and admire for such a small book.
About the reviewer: Dr Beatriz Copello is an award-winning poet, she writes poetry, fiction, reviews and plays. The author’s books are: Women Souls and Shadows, Meditations At the Edge of a Dream, Under the Gums Long Shade, Forbidden Steps Under the Wisteria, A Call to the Stars translated and published in China and Taiwan, Witches Women and Words, No Salami Fairy Bread, Rambles, Renacer en Azul and Lo Irrevocable del Halcon (In Spanish). Copello’s poetry has been published in literary journals such as Southerly and Australian Women’s Book Review and in many feminist publications. The author has participated in international conferences, has taught Creative Writing at W.S.U. and other scholarly institutions, she has read her poetry at Writers Festivals and other poetry events in Australia and overseas. Copello is mentioned amongst the forty “most notable people” graduated from the University of Technology.