Collected Poems

Peter 'Ken' Leonard was born in Sandymount, Dublin, in 1923 and lived in Dublin all his life apart from a few years which he spent in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire following his marriage in 1958.

He died in 2003 following a short illness. The poems collected in this book were composed over a period of 60 years or so.

It has not been possible to establish a precise chronological sequence, but I have tried as far as possible to present them in their order of composition.

The publication of this book constitutes an important literary event: poems like "Giacometti", "The stars in their courses", "Just When" and many others deserve to be read and cherished, now that they are finally available in print.

Taken as a whole, this collection marks the addition of a significant new voice to the canon of Irish verse written in the twentieth century.