POETRY
I write independently and to commission, with a long term interest in biographical poetry relating to those who live 'on the edge', like refugees, Holocaust survivors, Travellers and shanty town dwellers! The natural world is something of an obsession. At the same time, I have a strong interest in poetics and poetic history, and am working on a sequence related to Pound and Venice in relation to ecology and philosophy. Some poetic 'heroes' of mine are Tess Gallagher, Mary Oliver, Gary Snyder, Robert Duncan and Ted Hughes. Bashō, Rabindranath Tagore and Welsh artist-poet David Jones are also important for me.
In 2005, my first collection of poetry, An Indian Rug Surprised by Snow, was published by Wrecking Ball Press (Hull) and I was poet in residence at the Ilkley Literature Festival. In 2006, I was writer in residence for the town of Boston, Lincolnshire, and in 2010 schools poet in residence for Bridlington Poetry Festival. In 2011, I won the Yorkshire Prize in the Yorkshire Poetry Competition, and my second collection, Tear up the Lace, was published by Graft Poetry (Bradford). I was poet in residence for Trinity Leeds, the only major retail development to open in Europe in 2013. 'Voice, cry, call', a poem about kittiwakes, won the Yorkshire prize in the Yorkshire Poetry Competition.
