About Michael Heald
Michael began writing poems in Primary School in England, encouraged by a poetry-minded headmaster, who would bring interesting-looking natural objects into the classroom as the subject.
After arriving in Australia at the age of twelve, Michael began writing again towards the end of high school. His first books were published by Fremantle Press, and his third, Focusing Saturn, was shortlisted for both the Queensland and West Australian Premier's Prizes.
The latest book , Journal of the First Step, will appear with Puncher and Wattmann in mid-2022.
Michael's recent work , especially in The Moving World and Journal of the First Step, is greatly influenced by his meditation practice, though looking back, it is clear that the kind of insights which meditation provides into the nature of our reality - such as the radical inadequacy of our conventional sense of a separate self, and of the mystery of impermanence - have always been a natural focus of his poetry.
Commentary
Michael Heald's poetry has received some sustained academic attention, including a chapter in Natalie Seger's PhD thesis at the University of Queensland, This commentary is provided below, along with other reviews and articles.
'Relating Experience: Spiritual Practice and the Poetry of Judith Beveridge, Kevin Hart,
Robert Gray and Michael Heald.' Natalie Seger
Review of Body-flame, Martin Harrison
'"Natives of Transience’" Michael Heald, Judith Beveridge, and the
Poetics of Sacred Space across Australia and India.' Natalie Seger
Judges' Reports, Focusing Saturn
'Reinhabiting the Body, Decolonising Australia. Poetry, Meditation and Place
in The Moving World. Michael Heald