Doctor poet up for enviro award

A POEM by local artist Dr Michael Leach has been shortlisted in the Woollahra Digital Literary Award’s poetry category.

The visual ecopoem entitled Limits of Vision is about the green sea turtle and originally appeared in the medical journal Otoliths.

“It’s an ecological poem as well as a visual poem so the words match the shape of the words on the page,” said Leach.

“It’s about the green sea turtle species which is endangered and I wanted to raise awareness in the community around climate change and other such impacts.”

Leach said he feels honoured to be nominated for the award.

“This is a national award run out of Woollahra in Sydney open to all Australian residents,” he said.

“It supports innovation in Australian literature, encouraging Australian writers and poets to produce works in a digital medium.

“I was quite honoured and pleasantly surprised to receive that recognition.”

Dr Leach began pursuing poetry at the age of 28 and his first poem, Longitudinal, was accepted into the Medical Journal of Australia in 2015.

He also works as a senior health lecturer at Monash University’s School of Rural Health in Bendigo and incorporates poetry into learning materials.

“I work across a range of areas mainly to do with the human side of healthcare like quality of life and person-centred care,” said Leach.

“One of the key focuses of the School of Rural Health is climate change and the impacts that can have on humans, animals and the planet.

“My poem relates to my work in that way.”

Until tomorrow, readers can vote for their favourite shortlisted piece in the Woollahra Digital literacy Awards at culturecounts.cc/s/77nrrJ.