
The first volume for the anthology, because there are too many poems for just one, became a compilation of some of my most personal thoughts and doubts. Poetry is my primary writing style, the free flow thought and rhythm that ruptures from the seemingly endless page. It began long before essay writing for homework assignments or reports, a constant companion through the early years and well advanced by the time I learned other structures of the written form. Yet there was a price to pay in the changing environment and when I was ready to share the publishing doors were well and truly closed. For I had fallen been the demise of traditionally published poetry and the rise of self publishing. For a young impressionable person the message was clear, no one wanted poetry.
Interlude
This disheartening time led to a change in writing style to the fiction novel, while it was approached with a feeling of regret the skills have stayed with me. A chance discussion and a broader level of experience enabled the realisation that even without an audience it would be worthwhile to place in record that which had already been written. By that stage I had hidden away more than a thousand poems and a heavy task lay ahead to compile them into separate volumes. I have often spent my days reading the poems in private, in the belief that no one would be interested. The anthologies have been published with no expectations and it came as a surprise to find a small audience.