{"id":41417,"date":"2019-06-06T06:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T10:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=41417"},"modified":"2019-06-04T06:32:39","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T10:32:39","slug":"death-of-a-great-australian-christian-poet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2019\/06\/death-of-a-great-australian-christian-poet\/","title":{"rendered":"Death of a Great Australian Christian Poet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Les Murray<\/a>, one of Australia\u2019s greatest writers, died a few weeks ago.\u00a0 He described himself as \u201ca subhuman redneck who writes poems.\u201d\u00a0 Others have called him \u201cthe patron saint of misfits\u201d and \u201camongst the greatest English-language poets since Yeats.\u201d\u00a0 It is said that he \u201csang the nation\u2019s landscape, culture and vernacular into being.\u201d\u00a0 (Quotations from the BBC obituary<\/a>.)\u00a0 He was also an outspoken but jovial conservative, a battler against postmodernism, and a devout Christian.<\/p>\n

To give you an idea about Murray, his poetry, his wit, and his wisdom, consider his poem \u201cThe Dream of Wearing Shorts Forever<\/a>.\u201d It also showcases his ability to capture the essence of Australia, as the Australian Tourism board recognized when they made this video of him performing part of that poem:<\/p>\n

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