HEALTH lecturer and poet Dr Michael Leach recently won an award in a Melbourne writing competition.<\/p>\n
The competition, run by Minds Shine Bright, was open to international poets, with Leach named a joint winner in the poetry category for his piece Emergence of Voice.<\/em><\/p>\n The poem recounts Leach\u2019s life, focusing on his shyness as a child and eventually gaining confidence, which was the theme of the competition.<\/p>\n He said he was pleasantly surprised to win his category and proud of one judge\u2019s comments about his work.<\/p>\n \u201cShe said the winning poems made her cry with the weight of the emotional resonance. It was quite amazing to hear that, my writing having that effect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe poem is about my own experiences of growing up as a very shy kid and gradually becoming more confident and finding my own voice over time. It\u2019s a good news story and hopefully it can inspire others.\u201d<\/p>\n Leach said he views confidence as \u201cpositive psychology\u201d and something he has gained through both his role as a lecturer but also publicly performing poetry.<\/p>\n \u201cMy poem has a refrain throughout, the words \u2018I\u2019ve always been shy\u2019,\u201d he said. \u201cI repeat that throughout memories and moments where I have and haven\u2019t been confident.\u201d<\/p>\n Leach said he also uses poetry with his Monash University School of Rural Health students, as it can be a way of \u201cdistilling down the essence of experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n