Cover art by Rachel Braff

I wrote poetry as a child, mostly tasks set by teachers, but sometimes also in cards for my parents on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. They were silly, fun pieces that were forgotten the moment they were read. One still adorns my mum’s fridge, the paper it’s written on thin with age.

I had yet to learn that good poetry delves beneath the surface to capture emotions. Great poetry speaks to universal conditions. Over the years I read Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Ted Hughes, TS Eliot, Barbara Kohler, Keats, WH Auden, Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath… the list goes on.

The poetry shelf in my library is healthy and many of those volumes are tatty from use. Two things made poetry more accessible to me. First: poets on Twitter. The creativity there is catchy. Second: hearing the energy and passion of spoken word poetry. The fire of performance poets is contagious.

So I began to write, and I’ve collected my poems in a collection. Just subscribe to my email list to download it. I hope you like it, especially since I gave into temptation and splurged on this pretty cover art by Rachel Braff.