IVAN HEAD was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1953. Participation in Speech and Drama led him to read, learn and recite poetry from an early age. He has been writing poetry for most of his adult life and regularly reviews poetry publications for Quadrant, the Australian journal founded by James McAuley in the mid-1950s. He has a PhD from Glasgow University on the interpretation of miracle stories, and was a philosophy major from the university of Western Australia. Ivan was head (Warden) of two Australian university colleges for 27 years

Sonnet on the Philosophy of Lawn Bowls

Through the club-house plate glass

I see the green-keeper on his roller, 

gliding forth and back across grass 

that seems too short to mow. 

The earlier blades were set to zero. 

As he comes and goes, he seems to print the couch

and zip the baize. I hear no sound

as if the roller floats above the ground. 

For a moment I think to dip a knee,

and send a blocking shot to lie against 

the far-end jack.  

That would express my philosophy –

to stop with Hume

all easy bias of the age.