What writers have inspired you?
The list is huge and constantly growing but these are some I would recommend and could not
get along without. Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Octavio
Paz, Tomas Tranströmer, Christina Rossetti, César Vallejo, Rabindranath Tagore, Lewis
Thompson, Vladimir Nabokov, Rainer Maria Rilke, John Donne, W.B. Yeats, Wilfred Owen,
Alexandr Blok, Edith Södergran, Gabriela Mistral, Fyodor Tyutchev, Lucian Blaga,
Alexander Pushkin, Omar Khayyám, Emily Dickinson, Matthew Arnold, Lao Tzu, Kahlil
Gibran and last but not least Pablo Neruda.
What projects are you currently engaged in?
I have just submitted a manuscript some 90 poems for a UK book/chapbook competition I
don’t suppose I will be chosen but it is all a learning curve and a good experience.
I am engaged mostly in revisiting some old neglected poems and re-editing and
reinvigorating them and submitting these to publishers which is a huge undertaking and
interesting in a self-developmental way to see how far I have come.
The process of writing is a journey like no other so acknowledging failures and looking back
at the seeds of a poem is very revealing and worthwhile thing to do.
How have you spent the year 2020?
Mostly I have been focused on the day to day stuff of work and keeping fit and healthy;
fitting in a poem or two whenever inspiration strikes, editing and submitting to anthologies
and magazines. Otherwise spending my time gardening and taking long walks with my
partner reflecting on what has been an extremely trying and difficult year for me personally
after the loss of my eldest daughter.
How have you maintained your artistic skills during lockdowns?
It is very much a natural process that I don’t force and if it isn’t there I simply stop and take a
well-deserved break from it. At the beginning of the year, my writing was flowing without
much effort but since the autumn it has dried up and I haven’t written for some weeks. For
me it is like visiting a spring well that is either full to brimming or empty that I have learnt
not to worry about.
Do you have any goals for the New Year?
It is as it has always been and that is to simply improve and write. Fulfil my creative
ambitions and have others enjoy them.
Is community important to your writing? Are there any magazines or small presses that
you feel a strong attachment to?Â
I feel every small press or magazine that knows little about me and who has supported me is
noteworthy and once that has happened I naturally feel an attachment an affinity with them
some listed below. Silver Birch Press, Topology Magazine, The Bezine Magazine, Until the
star burns out, Active muse journal, Event Horizon a literary and graphic arts periodical, Credo Espoir, Praxis Magazine, Red Wolf Journal, Flora Fiction Magazine, Necro Magazine
& The Erozine