I started writing aged 15. Having been inspired by singers like Jarvis Cocker, Roger Waters, Thom Yorke (and later Joni Mitchel and Bill Callahan). My original goal was to write lyrics for songs which I might one day sing. It wasn’t until about 10 years later that I realised what I was actually writing might be poetry.
The style, themes and success rate have all varied over the years. I don’t have any formal education in poetry, prose or writing but I know what I like. Writing is my main creative outlet and a method for getting a grip on all the things I’ve seen and experienced.
I love reading other writers’ work but I don’t always have a comment to make. I definitely have a style I prefer reading (which isn’t necessarily reflected in my own work) and when I find someone who writes in that way, I tend to love everything they do.
I don’t claim to be a gifted writer but I am occasionally proud of the words that come out. I often try to put myself in the mind of someone else and write from their perspective, to help me understand what they’re thinking or feeling. At other times, it’s all me. I have no high ambition for my writing beyond hoping it might mean something to others or perhaps inspire them to tell their own stories. I do hope to try my hand at writing some novels one day.
The creative process fascinates me. I’d love to sit down and chat with all the writers I encounter here on WordPress and learn about where they get their ideas, what satisfaction they derive from a poem, how they know when one is finished and even what pen/tools they use to write. I want to get better at writing shorter poems but the skill of rationing my words is something I’m need to keep working on.
I like people watching, the sea, animals, psychology, photography, fountain pens and traveling.
Yorkshire, UK.
Interview with Manchester’s AllFM
You can find out more (and hear a couple of poetry readings) in this hour-long interview with AllFM from March 2020:
Published works
Amongst the madness of 2020, I found little slivers of time to collect and polish up another 80 of my poems. The Ship-wrecker’s Lamp contains many of my more recent poems as well a chapter dedicated entirely to poems written about 2020’s Covid lockdown.
All 80 poems were written between 2010-2020. Reflecting on romance, desire, life, lockdown, friendship and writing. The perfect stocking filler, wonky table leg leveller or double-fisting beer coaster…
Also available:
My first collection of poetry is out there in the wilds of the Amazon. One of These Years contains 80+ poems across 130 pages of glorious paperback or intangible Kindle bytes. You’ll find many of the poems from this blog along side others not yet found anywhere else.
Click the image below to take a look!
Listen to my poems on Soundcloud
Follow me on Instagram
Buy my book on Amazon
Why Poems?
Poems are my photographs
my diary
my inner monologue
poems are my measurement
my record
the fingerprints of emotions
invisible no more
Poems are my expression
the sum of interactions
they show my working out
Poems are the breath
of lost lovers
against my neck
Poems are my kisses
for my family and my friends
the hugs I seldom give
And your poems…
your poems keep me company
a little light
calling to my lost ship
I sip my tea
and slip into your mind…
Image Credits
Where possible, I’ve tried to use my own images and photographs to accompany the poems however in many cases I’ve sourced them from some of my favourite photography accounts. You can usually click the image to be linked the source and if there’s no link, then it’s my own.
Here are some of my favourite photo collections:
Margaret Durow: https://www.instagram.com/margaretdurow/
Nightwalker Magazine: https://www.instagram.com/nightwalkermagazine/
The Lighthouse 