John Leonard
Honest Errors
These mistakes, so inexplicable,
In matter of such simplicity,
Have a purpose.
They give it all away, confound it,
Destroy the illusion of a selvedge,
True acquittance.
They tell us that lumpish authority
Is not what we think, nothing
To meddle with.
Here, these honest errors say,
We should not waste our time,
Or expect results.
John Leonard (www.jleonard.net) was born in the UK and came to Australia in 1991. He completed a PhD at the University of Queensland and was poetry editor of Overland from 2003 to 2007. He has five collections of poetry. His latest collection, A Spell, A Charm, was published by Hybrid Publishing in July 2014. His poetry has been translated into French, Croatian, Spanish and Chinese and published in those versions.