So, this is a new venture for me. Poems.

The poems here are snapshots and fragments of memories from the first 25 years of my life. Some of the memories may be faulty, but they are moments which resurface from time to time – in dreams or more likely, daydreams, moments of reflection. They are not necessarily the most important moments, but they have resonance.

I first got the idea after an experience at Latitude in 2015. I popped into the Poetry tent on the Friday afternoon, for a bit of a chill out, to regather my energy during a mid-afternoon lull. A poet by the name of John Osborne was on, reading mostly from his collection “Most People Aren’t That Happy Anyway”. They were wistful and funny poems about ordinary life, delivered in a really engaging way. I loved them, and bought John’s book afterwards.

Soon after, we went on holiday to Antibes – and very nice it was too! I took the poems with me. Again, they made me laugh, but also feel quite moved, by the poignancy of the things that happen to us day to day. And… I thought, I could do this.

So I tried it, and found I came up with this idea of relating those moments from my own young life that, for some reason, stay front of mind. I listed a whole load of events that might be worth describing, and then just went for it. Like all writing, once you start, it just flows, or so I find. Especially at night, sitting outside the apartment, enjoying the balmy summer air, with a glass of rose wine by my side. Most of the poems in this volume were written, in first draft, in the two weeks we spent in Antibes. I put them to one side when I got home, to concentrate on getting my book on music, “I Was There – A Musical Journey”, out. Since then I’ve refined the ones I bashed out in that first session and added a few more. I felt a narrative developing and filled a few gaps on that basis. And in the process of doing this, I think I learnt a bit about myself. I won’t say anything now, because I’d like anyone reading these poems to form their own conclusions.

And maybe relate these experiences to their own. They’ll be different, but sometimes similar too. After all, as children, as teenagers, as young adults, we all encounter a lot of similar challenges, although we may think they are unique to us at the time.

It’s all part of Growin’ Up.

The book is available on Amazon and Kindle. Not too expensive. Click on this link, or the image below, if you’re interested, and thank you if you are. If the links are just for the UK and you are elsewhere, just put the name of the book and my name in your Amazon search engine.

The Kindle version, which the preview pages are based on, seems to have lost the formatting of the contents page. I’ll have to look into that.