I was writing poetry aged twelve and still have a poem that my mother kept from that time. I recognise aspects of my current poetic style even then. The first poetry book I bought was with money for my sixteenth birthday: T.S. Eliot’s Selected Poems ‒ I seem to have been aiming quite high!  Poems I wrote about relationships while at university were very much written for myself and have never seen the light of day. A first visit to Khartoum, Sudan in my early twenties triggered a descriptive poem about sunset; little did I know I would write so much about Sudan in the future.  

I was listening to Susie Dent recently talking about the etymology of words on Radio 4’s Start the Week. Did you know that the word ‘sarcastic’ comes from Greek and means ‘to tear flesh’ and is a word also linked to ‘sarcophagus’ (which derives from the fact that limestone in coffins helped flesh decompose). It gives a whole new angle to the word.  I was reminded that I once had a university interview to study linguistics. I enjoyed the interview and was offered a place but felt studying the structure of language was not for me. I went on to study French and German at the University of St Andrews.  

It is interesting to look back on life and think about those Sliding Doors moments. Later, when studying French and German, I opted to do a course on the French poet Baudelaire, however a few weeks in, I decided to switch courses to study Suisse Romande literature, as I was finding critiquing  poetry in French too difficult. Another sliding doors moment… What would have happened if I had persevered? Would I have dedicated myself to becoming a poet much earlier in life? 

As it is, I waited until I had retired at the end of a long international career with the British Council to focus on developing myself as poet. I now feel, after doing many courses, gaining an MA in Writing Poetry, having two pamphlets published and a lot of rejections, that I can call myself a poet. However, the more I learn, the more I realise how much there is still to study. There are so many poets and poetic forms to get to know. I admit I am lazy when it comes to trying out forms, though recently I have written a villanelle and also several sonnets/fourteen-line poems.  

So far, over my lifetime, I have learnt several languages resulting in varying degrees of competence: French, German, Spanish, Polish, Slovak, Russian, Arabic, even a dash of Norwegian. I find some foreign words more expressive than English e.g. the French adjective ‘bouleversé’ captures the upside-down aspect of being deeply upset. I like the way Arabic words, as well as Latin and Greek, have found their way into European languages: the linguistic richness of words like ‘apricot’, ‘cotton’, ‘orange’. As poets we can use the sounds and flavours of other languages to enhance our writing. I used Arabic words in my first pamphlet, A City Waking Up which I feel really helped immerse the reader in the scenes I was describing, particularly when writing about food. I also think investigating the etymology of words could be a way to stimulate new poetic ideas. Here is one relevant website. 

If you would like to contact me to comment or follow up, please send me an email via the contact box on my website . You can also contact me to buy a signed copy my books 

Sleeping Under Clouds (Clayhanger Press) and A City Waking Up (Dempsey and Windle). My third pamphlet, Once There Was Colour comes out with Palewell Press 27 September 2024.