Handwriting: Selected Poems 2008-2022

This selection has been made from my various poetry collections published over the past fifteen years. It contains approximately one third of the poetry that I have written. I had not planned to revise the poems for this edition, but the temptation to do so became irresistible. Most of the revisions have simply made the poems shorter, and I hope clearer. Some of the original collections included images that complemented the poems, and I have included a few of them at the end of the book. Most of the sections end with a few notes, where I felt that the poems called for them.

Poetry does not have a high profile in today’s world; it has been largely crowded out by other creative media and forms of entertainment. Nevertheless I believe that poetry can still fulfil a vital role, because it expresses a refusal to accept the world as it is, seeking instead to create an alternative world through the language of the imagination. Poetry affirms the importance of the inner life of the mind, resisting the material, impersonal forces which dominate contemporary life. My own poetry has its roots in the culture of the past, with many poems inspired by other writers and artists. It argues that we must re-learn our spiritual history, our place in nature and our place in the universe, if we are to preserve our humanity. This is the leading idea which has shaped my attempts to write a form of poetry which should be modern, but in some way linked to the classical traditions of poetry.

            203 pages            175  poems               E-Book          Price £6