Poetry as therapy

I hand wrote a book of Poetry back in 1986, when studying English at college. It still exists (over there, in that box of papers) after being unearthed at the time of an Open University writing course in 2012. One of the required modules was poetry. Looking back on it now, that whole experience was painful: I had no idea what happened between those two points, but my ability had vanished.

It was time to relearn the process from scratch.

In the end, learning how to write again would have an unexpected benefit that I’d never considered. It became the means by which I could communicate historic trauma, events and situations that I’d been unable to explain to anyone else since early childhood. This journey has become so much more than just a search of words and meaning. It has redefined everything that I am.

Here is where that journey first began.

Thank You Day 11.png

I spent a month in November 2017 writing and creating Haiku ‘Thank You’ graphics for those people who’d supported my writing journey. There’s been countless weekly poem cycles, contest and mentorship applications ever since… a willingness to produce my own, unique work continues to rise. It’s the same compulsion that sends an increasingly compliant body to the Gym to lift weights and improve muscle tone.

Only with daily, focused repetition and effort do the real changes begin to take place: undoubted mental exercise to complement the physical.

Inevitability (1)

There’s also increasing satisfaction at being able to make graphics to go along with the poems. So much so, that space has now been made for everything to be spotlighted and celebrated. Having made my print debut in 2018, enough confidence was gained to undertake a major poetry project in 2019, a piece of which is now published in my first hardback anthology. We’ve come a long way since those tentative first experiments.

Here’s the place where everything will live going forward.

Click here for the 24 poem collection: ‘End of the Fear’

Click here for weekly Twitter poetry

Click for Instagram-published poetry

Click for @Twitter ‘Thank You’ projects

Click for a selection of graphic poetry