The Poet by Candlelight - photo: Warren Mars

I have been writing poetry all through my life.

Most of this has been in the form of songs. Because, however, when I write songs I write the words and the music at the same time, my song lyrics have a rhythm that is tied to that song alone and they don't stand up well on their own. For that reason my song lyrics are not to be found in this section of this web site; they can be found in the music section.

Occasionally I feel driven to write pure poetry, poetry that is intended to be spoken and not sung. I don't know why I am sometimes inspired to follow one muse and other times another but I have learnt not to argue with them.

I delight in all forms of poetry, which is the pure art of the mind, but it must be poetry. If it is just a narrative with lines inserted in odd places then it is not poetry. Poetry is playing with language and rhythm to achieve an effect that cannot be achieved through conventional speech.

Most of my poems follow strict metre and rhyme, because I enjoy the discipline of forcing language to meet those rules; it sorts out the competent from the incompetent, I also, being a musician, enjoy a regular rhythm. There are times however when the subject matter is too strong for boundaries and I discard them and write blank verse.