A Spell, A Charm

In his powerful fifth collection of poetry, John Leonard dissects contemporary life and ideas in intense, but human, lyric poetry. This four-part collection begins with a section of meditative poems of everyday moments, often of great peace (‘the Hope and Trust of the Times’). Following a section of satires on the complacencies and delusions of our world, a section on poetry and other arts reinstates a feeling of the grounded and the valid (‘Sadness is no Longer Sad’). The final section, (‘Change beyond Change’), is a series of reflections on the end-game our society is playing with the global environment, and necessarily ends on a sombre note.