Len Green is a practising radiologist in Sydney. He enjoys the possibilities of wit and metre in his light verse composed for performance on community radio, and for publication to raise funds for the Royal Society for the Blind. He has written many poems and books, and even claims to have some of his work shelved at Buckingham Palace!

In ‘The Elderly Practitioners’ he reflects back on starting out: 

‘Quite bushy tailed with high and mighty hopes,

with scalpel, drugs and trusty stethoscope,

Declaring war on every bug and germ,

We set our minds to curing the infirm.’

 

Green has expanded the field of poetry by publishing it in places like the daily newspapers, medical journals, specialist medical colleges, the Taronga Zoo and the Echidna Society (sic), etc. 

The Gastro-enterologist 

A gastro-intestinal activist

Must be nimble instrumentalist,

For with his endoscope he should provide

A bird’s eye view of somebody’s inside.

One needs to show a modicum of tact

In dealing with the alimentary tract,

For waste deposits finding their way out,

End up as spoil, nice folks don’t talk about.

Although no-one would vulgarise the mouth,

The orifice that opens further south,

No matter how compelling and well kempt,

Is subject to hate, ridicule, contempt.

Therefore our grateful thanks to him are due,

For taking such a fundamental view.

 

Consider:  A poet is more than a versifier: there is much else to be done, such as attending readings and literary festivals, negotiating with editors and publishers, raising awareness of the art form, and perhaps writing reviews and articles about poetry.