"I'm absolutely devastated. So sad."
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This is the response Chris Jones, manager of MidCoast Libraries had when he heard of poet Les Murray's death on Monday, April 29.
Chris has known Les Murray for "going on 10-15 years", as Les had a long standing relationship with the then Great Lakes Library Service in Forster, and with Chris as the library's manager.
Even though he came into contact with Les many times, he still views him with a sense of wonder - that Les was one of the greatest poets in the world in the 20th century, yet such an unassuming and down to earth man.
Very early on we developed a relationship with Les because he was a member of our library service, and certainly our most notable member.
- Chris Jones, manager MidCoast Libraries
"Very early on we developed a relationship with Les because he was a member of our library service, and certainly our most notable member," Chris says.
"He would frequent our Nabiac and Forster libraries. He was very generous in donating items for the collection. As Australia's premier poet he would often be sent books to review and he would then donate these works to the library. So we would get a good steady flow of contemporary Australian verse from Les."
Les was adopted as the Friends of Great Lakes Library Services Literary Patron, a position he happily accepted.
"Over the course of that time he did a number of really wonderful presentations and poetry readings in our library service," Chris says.
Chris regales me with memories of extraordinary evenings and events shared with Les at the library.
He recalls one memorable poetry reading where Les recited his poem Bat's Ultrasound.
"It's quite an unusual poem because the first verses were in English, and the third verse is in bat! Which is this very strange sound. There's Les Murray, one of the most recognised poets in the 20th century anywhere in the world, just standing there reading this poetry," Chris said.
There's Les Murray, one of the most recognised poets in the 20th century anywhere in the world, just standing there reading this poetry.
- Chris Jones
On another occasion where Les had just finished a poem.
"He just tested it out on us! He just said 'are you guys happy if I run this one past you?' So we were the first audience in the world to hear that particular poem,"
Chris has watched while ABC journalist Tim Bowden interviewed Les Murray onstage one-on-one "Parkinson style.
"We also had an evening with his biographer who spoke about the curiosity, the wonder that is Les."
He tells me how remarkable Les was - how he taught himself to read, how he was a polyglot and spoke many languages, how he had a virtually eidetic memory.
He was something like the entire Eastern European division of the translation service in Canberra, because he was a polyglot, he just knew so many languages.
- Chris Jones
"He's got such a fascinating background. If you look at the circumstances, from memory, he's self taught - he taught himself to read based on newspapers that were up on the inside of the walls so that they could keep the cold out, and a set of encyclopedias that his mother had been given.
"He was something like the entire Eastern European division of the translation service in Canberra, because he was a polyglot, he just knew so many languages.
"Such an extraordinary man and I love his poetry. Things like An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow... I've got my own special favourite poems of his too."
Chris last saw Les five years ago when he went to his property at Bunyah to pick up a boot-load of books.
"It was such an unusual experience, and yet it's so typical of the nature of the man - out on this unassuming property, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century internationally, and he's just standing there putting books in the back of the car and having a chat about anything and everything," Chris says.
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