It came with the Herald one day last December
My bonus brand-new Michael Leunig calendar
One image each month from that great illustrator
The people’s poet our favourite commentator on the human condition
He’s penned so many amusing editions – this fine-feathered philosopher
Of crazy cartoons full of compassion and delicate drawings of dags
Curl Flat characters invariably twisted
and sensitive sight-gags for SNAGs
And each month had thirty odd little boxes to mark off the days
with birthdays and hot dates and bills to be paid
Things to remember right up to December
like doctor’s and dentist appointments I’d made
and my record of when and how much it rained this summer
January
I make no new year’s resolution unless it chance to be like Mr Curly’s
Completely con-voluted and carefree
February
Has a Valentine’s theme – kisses hearts romance and dreams
Keeping love alive is not all that hard
I make a note to buy roses – write my sweetheart a card
March
Is Piscean / and something strange and awesome washed up by the sea
On a sandy beach sightseers gather wearing suntan lotion
And runaway shopping trolleys rolling back to the ocean
Are caught in the margins of the black line frame
I know without Leunig life would not be the same
He’s as bold as that intrepid explorer don Vasco Pyjama
As deep and meaningful as the Dalai Lama
Poet Laureate of the absurd
with his nonsense verse and his play on words
From the ridiculous to the sublime
he’s a maestro of the hand-drawn line
Don’t you reckon?
Michael Leunig
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
