Should the mood take you, I have two other sites (I know, it's verging on the greedy) for my other main creative output. These are, if you didn't know; Music and Photography.
Music has been important to me all my life; I remember hearing 'Nursery Cryme' and 'Foxtrot' by Genesis when I was ten or so and that was it; like reading Sci-Fi; I was hooked. Since meeting Keith Melhuish in 2006, I've been in a music project with him called 'UnderTow'. We've had an album out, written and recorded over 170 songs and are in the final stages of crafting a new album - this one is the result of an 8-hour recording session at a professional recording studio - Rogue Studios in Wembley Essex. To visit the UnderTow site, click on this Link and see what you think!
Secondly, the Photography site is located here. Like poetry, I've been taking photographs for over 40 years and have had a resurgence in my love of the medium in recent years. I've tried to enhance any photography skills I might have via some academic study and thus I've studied the taking of photographs and the enhancing and editing of them in Photoshop in post-production. I have to admit that my Photography site has been a little neglected of late due to the recording session and family matters; but I shall be devoting some time to update it in due course. And of course, if you ever buy any of my books, you'll find some of my photography on the cover and within the pages as I sprinkle them liberally inside my books to (hopefully) enhance the reader experience!
Talking of my books, if you'd also like to order anything from the Store (Cash, Cheques, 'PayPal' or now 'Stripe' currently accepted), then you can do this from here as well!
Music, the visual arts, and writing are all about communication. Indeed, perhaps at its core, to be human is to be a communicator. The way that we, as human beings, 'talk' to each other in the majestic variety of methods that we do, and across a multitude of subjects, is amazing. Those that paint or draw perhaps have the most immediate (visual) impact; as you turn a corner or walk into a room and see a picture or drawing you experience it in a flash of colour or images.
Those who create and release music can provide an aural impact over the time of the musical piece, which can also be fairly immediate and 'high-impact'. It can start from nothing, from nowhere and then be in your ears, your mind, your soul and take you places usually not visited in the regular day. (This is, of course, not always a good thing.)
For most current societies, writing is generally squiggles on the page (or screen) and the reader joins with the writer in a theoretical conspiracy (if both share the same lexicon and 'language'). Yet it tends to be far less immediate. Because of its nature, writing is often a 'slow burn' event for the mind and soul. Stories and novels take a while to 'get going' sometimes for the reader, and could be considered as less 'immediate' than the visual or musical arts.
A poem is perhaps the most 'immediate' format of the captured word, usually taking less time than a short song to read and experience. In it's longer form, the great poems of the past, stories that transcend time and societal mores (proving that there really is nothing in the world that you can experience that someone, at some point, has already experienced before you). The ancient epic poems were stories for the (rich and educated) masses; those that came later in Europe were available and perhaps accessible to an even greater number and types of people.
In the short story, novella or full novel, this experience is drawn out, by hours days, weeks or even months. For all of that, like a great song or piece of music; they can last in the mind (like a flavour in the mouth) just as long.
There is a long tradition of humanity passing down their stories and archives via the spoken word. Poets, writers and story-tellers were preceded by an oral tradition that saw a group listening to the words of one (often over a camp fire, but I don't think that this was mandatory). Much of our history was passed down this way, as were the history and myths and legends of many other societies and cultures.
Thus, to me, a would-be storyteller, words are more 'real' more alive when heard over the air we breathe, when they are shared across a space and over time. The success of audio books (many read by the wonderful Mr Fry or Sir Tony Robinson) are just another step in this long tradition. Words and stories are meant to be heard, experienced, immersed in. Poetry even more so.
The poetry here is personal and is meant to be experienced in a variety of ways; not 'merely' read by the eyes and mind - so give reading it aloud a go and see what you think!
If you have visited this site and page before, you'll notice that it has changed. I always try to update and evolve my sites and work - to stand still is to go backwards in many ways. But a recent visitor to my site read through my poetry, looked at the other sites and made some great suggestions as to how to perhaps alter this site for the better.
My aim, like anyone who is putting their creative work 'out there' in some way is to connect and the fact that this Lady found something that chimed with her and then took the time to connect with me about it (and point out a spelling mistake in one of my poems, now corrected) was heartening. I feel often that I'm just one a million voices vying for attention and that I continue the sites for only my benefit. In itself that is not necessarily a bad thing, but to have some constructive feedback and positive reaction to my poems was such a big positive for me that I must say to 'Carole M' - Thank You!
I've offered to send her a book of her choice free of charge, and before you start shouting 'what has she done to deserve that?' have checked the Geneva Convention and the Human rights Act and this offer does not come under 'cruel and unusual punishment', and nor does it contravene such legislation if I also add my autograph to said book.