I have always written poetry. I remember from when I was young I had poem framed and put on the wall of the Gosport City Museum, and a masterpiece entitled “Stan, Stan, the Crackpot Man” that had them rolling in the aisles of my year seven English Class…
Poetry is great. It allows you to write small things, be complex, work on engineering, be vague, not necessarily understand what you’re saying (nor have to explain it!). It gives opportunities to be clever, lucid, brilliant even. And just occasionally, it allows the smallest diamond to glitter from amidst the semi-precious, glass and fake gems that go to make up all our writing.
There are a few lines, here and there, I will be eternally proud to have written.
Of course, based on what I have said above, I have to confess that “Collected Poems” is an improper title for this book. “Stan” isn’t in there for a start; in fact, “Stan” is lost to the world, much as the real Stan who inspired the piece must surely be… I realised too late that it should be called “Selected Poems” – but by then the publishing wheels were in motion… Lesson learned. Future volumes will have titles again, just like “Walking Thru Fire” which really does include some of my favourite pieces – and favourite lines.
2017 is shaping to be a bumper year for poetry. Which means the bad news is that there will be a new volume on the shelves before the year’s out..!
Ian Gouge - Writer 