New Collection coming in 2021 :  PAUSE AND REWIND
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Amazon link - new Collections of Verse
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                                                  BURG'S EYE VIEW

An engaging and unusual collection of poems and quirky light verse, Burg’s Eye View is a hop-on/hop-off tour of the UK and Europe, with themes as diverse as hedgehogs, hang-gliding, inner cities, Olympics, amnesia, speed dating, dragons, Mersey Ferries, glaciers, seagulls, potholes, talking dogs and mad-eyed sheep.
 
The improbable journey takes a rollercoaster ride through British seaside towns in ‘Baycombe’, casts a wry glance at Britain in Europe in ‘Those Eurovision Nights’, and ends with a ramble through the shadowy forest of current affairs in the TV newsroom of ‘Soundbite City News’.
 
This entertaining debut collection explores the peaks and caverns of modern living, with a lively and informed commentary, vivid imagery, vibrant rhythms, skilful wordplay and not least a smile or two.
WHISPER ON THE SHORE
New pamphlet now available  - lyrical verses about love, relationships and hope in a world of 'burning skies'.

​PUBLISHED IN MARCH 2020
TRIBUTE NIGHT AT THE SOCIAL
It's Open Mic Night at the Bannockpace Sports & Social Club, and we've invited some distinguished guest speakers to perform - if not in person then in spirit.
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Tribute Night at the Social
placed 3rd
Yeovil Writing Without Restrictions 2017
A collection of 14 tribute poems in a comedy setting  - available now as a pamphlet (March 2020)
 YEOVIL COMPETITION  -  thanks again !
 All these commended works are now included in my   debut collection BURG'S EYE VIEW:

Blackpoolium  - highly commended (top 10) in the Writing Without Restrictions competition 2018 (now incorporated into Burg's Eye View as 'Baycombe')

Pavement from inside Costa Coffee King's Cross one winter evening - commended      in the Poetry competition 2018
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Soundbite City News - shortlisted Yeovil Writing Without Restrictions competition 2016 
My poem Hang-Gliding was longlisted for the 2015 Yeovil Poetry prize.
Some of my favourite writers
Classic:
W.H. Auden
William Blake
T.S. Eliot
John Keats
Wilfred Owen
Carl Sandburg
​William Shakespeare
Dylan Thomas
R.S. Thomas
William Wordsworth
W.B. Yeats


Modern:
Simon Armitage
​Liz Berry
Carole Bromley
Miles Cain
Billy Collins
​Jonathan Edwards
Paul Farley
​Seamus Heaney
Lindsey Holland
Ian Humphreys
Brendan Kennelly
Ted Kooser
Roger McGough
Ian McMillan
Allison McVety
Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Esther Morgan
​Helen Mort
Brian Patten
Owen Sheers
Kathryn Simmonds
Jean Sprackland
Keith Taylor
Hugo Williams
Ryan Van Winkle

Light Verse:
Brian Bilston 
​​Bill Greenwell
Sharon Wadsley    (link)

Slam:
Harry Baker
MiKo Berry
​Sarah Kay
​Rives

The Rose of Bhagranapur

She moves with grace but no airs,
Her gaze unflinching at the sight
Of the unblinking around her.

Sopwith Camel

.. one for those of a certain age..

The Colour of Music

... I see music in the simple things ...
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