IN all the years Dr Michael Leach has been writing poetry, he\u2019s been building to the moment he publishes his first major collection of works.<\/p>\n
Originally training in pharmacology, his career has taken him into epidemiology, or the study of disease and illness and how it\u2019s treated.<\/p>\n
During that time, writing, and more specifically poetry, has become a companion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis collection arose out of my studies and work in healthcare, and also my personal experiences of healthcare and family members\u2019 experiences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy writing started out to inform my work, and as means of reflection.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver time I\u2019ve seen poetry as science communication more generally, and a potential way to engage the public in science, to see it from a different perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s also been a means of catharsis; a way to work though things that I\u2019m experiencing, particularly during the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Titled, Natural Philosophies<\/em>, Leach\u2019s new book is set for public release in early November, and takes a journey from the physical to the metaphysical.<\/p>\n Like many artists, he draws his creativity from the world around him and the things he\u2019s experiencing.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve written poems that are inspired by stories in scientific reports and the media,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne example is the impact of climate change and bushfires on the koala, and how the koala has become endangered in New South Wales.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve moved a bit more towards what\u2019s called eco-poetry. Poetry about nature and poems that recognise that fact that human health is intimately entwined with the health of the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n The structure of longer collected works of poetry can often be as different and as varied as the artform itself, and Natural Philosophies<\/em> is no exception.<\/p>\n Leach has divided the work into two main parts, with a return to the idea of the physical to the metaphysical.<\/p>\n \u201cPart one is called Planetarium and contains poems about the planet earth and also looking to space as well,\u201d said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s one science-fiction poem specifically about other planets. It\u2019s called Atmospheric<\/em>. It describes how it might feel like to free-fall through the planet Jupiter.<\/p>\n \u201cThe next section is called the Biopsychosocial Model<\/em> and that shifts more into the experiences of individual humans and how physical health is intimately entwined with psychological and social health.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, moving into something of a spiritual space as we get closer to the end of the book, and reach I final poem about my late mother that has quite a strong spiritual focus.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the poems themselves, they are as varied as the subject matter, with everything between prose and calligrams.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the key features of this book is the wide variety of poetry types and the way the poems are placed on the page,\u201d Leach said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s quite a number of visual, or concrete poems. The koala poem for example, the words are in the shape of a koala.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s another work where the words are in the shape of a rabbit, and one in the shape of a human vertebrae with long and short lines connecting.\u201d<\/p>\n