It’s amazing how settings can trigger a sort of chain reaction in your thoughts, leading you from the tangible details around you to grander themes like love, safety, and the spectrum of human experience. This happened to me a while back after I went to sit by a lake and spend an afternoon relaxing, watching …
Exploring Love, Life, and Illusions: A Reflective Poem Read More »
I wrote this poem several years ago – actually many years ago. I remember sitting in my car at the top of a windy Pennines hill to write it. In this poem I look at the monotony and grind of daily life that juxtaposes itself on the beauty that exists within those seemingly mundane moments. …
So, this morning I took my wife to Newcastle (Upon Tyne), our nearest big city, to visit a school where she is shortly to begin a placement as part of the training she must do for her Post-Graduate Teaching Certificate. While she was visiting the school, I sat in the car and watched the world …
We are living in an era when choices have to be made. Should we give up on the dreams of the past, the dreams where humans thought they were more than just the sum of their parts – should we go back to believing that there’s something special about us, something metaphysical? Or should we …
Someone gave me a prompt today, to write a poem about pyjamas. So I’ve quickly composed the one below. I’m not sure what door this prompt has opened in my mind but it’s an interesting one. Take a look at it. I love pyjamas by the way. And soft, sensual beds. It’s difficult to get …
I’m trying out a new way of presenting my poetry. I’ve added a short analysis. Let me know if you like the poem and the way I have presented it. This poem is a snapshot of a woman who’s both a victim and a redeemer, in her own understated way. I wrote this poem a …
What are we supposed to do with life? I know there are a million and one set formulas to follow but is there not more to life than following a set of instructions? Of course there is. We can go off-the-narrative-grid if we feel brave enough. Or we can lay in bed and dream. What …
I have just revisited this poem after writing it a few months (maybe a year) ago. I think it may have been last winter due to the references to potholes. I love writing poetry that challenges our reasoning and I think this one does. We lose sight of our natural spirituality when we imagine we …
I am a big believer in transforming our experience into narrative. Humans only understand themselves and the greater reality around them, through the stories they tell. We are all artists and writers trying to recount our personal histories. This process can go wrong though, if we take the process too seriously; if we begin to …
I like words to be clear and simple. Depth-of-meaning can be sought using simple words accessible to everyone. A poem shouldn’t require long convoluted sentences made up of rarely-used, acculturated words to experience a moment of deep connection with nature. It’s not just the well-read intellectual who can experience the beauty and depth of a …