Poetry Connection

8,657 poems196 poets · 750 BC to todaySince 2003

Poets/Les Murray

Les Murray

1938–2019

Poems
31
Reader comments
8
Portrait of Les Murray
Les Murray 1938–2019
1938Born

Biography

Leslie Allan Murray, born 1938 in Nabiac, a village on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, was an Australian poet and essayist who in such meditative, lyrical poems as "Noonday Axeman" and "Sydney and the Bush" captured Australia's psychic and rural landscape as well as its mythic elements.

From readers

What readers say about Les Murray

  1. On An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow

    “I do not think I have until now felt this kind of grief. Maybe before I read this poem I felt sad about this tragedy. But I am in a different place now. And I deserve this grief. The world has an obligation to share this grief. Thank you for helping me feel and think about the suffering of innocent…”

  2. On The Aboriginal Cricketer

    “Totally new to Les Murray and nearly new to poetry... I LIKED the poem and to me, it spoke of finding one's self faced with unknown rules / laws that are not comfortable and to save face... back out slowly, neither giving over, nor rushing away... ??”

  3. On The Meaning Of Existence

    “Interesting how language is the great deceiver. We claim to use language to define but actually it is used to obscure things. Our bodies half-understand. Thus through meditation – and a stilling of the monkey mind – a glimpse of the meaning of existence can be caught. A very Buddhist outlook. A…”

Where readers gather

Most discussed

  1. An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow2 comments
  2. Inside Ayers Rock2 comments
  3. The Aboriginal Cricketer2 comments
  4. A Retrospect Of Humidity1 comment
  5. The Meaning Of Existence1 comment

All 31 poems

Translations from the Natural World · 1992 · 2 poems
  1. Cockspur Bush
  2. Pigs
Subhuman Redneck Poems · 1996 · 4 poems
  1. Comete
  2. Inside Ayers Rock2
  3. Late Summer Fires
  4. Performance
Conscious and Verbal · 1999 · 3 poems
  1. Amanda's Painting
  2. The Harleys
  3. The Mowed Hollow
Learning Human · 2001 · 1 poem
  1. The Butter Factory
Poems the Size of Photographs · 2002 · 6 poems
  1. On The Borders
  2. Predawn In Health
  3. The Aboriginal Cricketer2
  4. The Images Alone
  5. The Meaning Of Existence1
  6. The New Hieroglyphics
Other poems · 15
  1. Bat's Ultrasound1986
  2. Flowering Eucalypt In Autumn1986
  3. The Sleepout1986
  4. An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow20002
  5. A Retrospect Of Humidity1
  6. Aurora Prone
  7. Music To Me Is Like Days
  8. On Home Beaches
  9. Poetry And Religion
  10. Shower
  11. The Dream Of Wearing Shorts Forever
  12. The Quality Of Sprawl
  13. To Fly In Just Your Suit
  14. Towards The Imminent Days (Section 4)
  15. Travels With John Hunter