Poems: First Published 1973

Ebook version of Tom's Leonard's first published book.Many of the poems appear in his later books. The intention has been to copy this as accurately as possible, including any typos the original had. Contents11 The Other Side of the Ticket12 Dream13 Summer 14 Another Sunday-poem15 Sweetheart16 Patron of the Arts17 Epitaph on an Introvert Wit18 Television Advertisement19 Little Jenny's Complaint (1) 20 Little Jenny's Complaint (2) 21 The Romantic22 Hill Street23 The Inner Melancholy of the Poet24 Phallflower25 The Psychopath26 The Remark27 similie please / say cheese29-36 A Priest Came On At Merkland Street38 She sells sea-shells39 Psychiatrist40 Words, for E.41 This Island Now42 Soft and Strong43 The Voyeur44 Honest45 Landscape47-50 The Performance52 Perpetual Stasis53 The Image54 The Poetry Reading55 Pyrrhic Victory56 The Main Feature57 Keep Right On58 As Luck Would Have It59 23rd Story60 The Virgins61 Storm Damage62 I said63 Full-frontal Astronauts64 At the Employment Exchange65 The Appetite67-75 Six Glasgow Poems76-79 Three Pollock PostersBelow is the description that been on back of the original bookTom Leonard was born in Glasgow in 1944. He worked as a Civil Servant then as a sales assistant in a bookshop before entering Glasgow University as a student in 1967. He left two years later without completing his degree: a variety of clerical jobs followed. He currently works for the Post Office in London. He is married (and has one son) . It was during his term as a student at Glasgow University, when his poems appeared in university magazines, that his work began to draw some attention in Scotland. Poems subsequently appeared in established Scottish magazines, and samples of his work were broadcast several times on B.B.C. Radio. A local Glasgow publisher, Midnight Press, then published his "Six Glasgow Poems" and "A Priest Came on at Merkland Street", and both of these publications established the poet's reputation as one of the most talented and original young writers on the contemporary Scottish literary scene. After many readings in Glasgow and at successive Edinburgh Festivals, he was granted a literary award by the Scottish Arts Council in 1971.A comprehensive selection of his work has been long overdue. This first "slim volume" will undoubtedly be welcome on many Scottish bookshelves; it will also, we are sure, further establish Tom Leonard's reputation beyond his native Scotland, and will provide a rewarding experience for all those throughout the British Isles who are interested in contemporary poetry.