Poetry for no apparent reason (do we need one?)

Journeys I

Clunk, but no click

in 1976

seat as wide as a double bed

smuggled toys hiding

in the foot-well

waves through the window

and I

a small thing

carried along endless roads

twisting and winding

through the mountains of rock

winter snows beginning

to take hold

the moon follows

like an abandoned pet

flat-lining

roads long and straight

an eternity of wheat fields

wanting to pee

wanting to go home

and then ice cracking

smashing seas with iron bow

rocking and rolling

across the ocean

to white cliffs of chalk

topped in green baize

orange ribbons of sulphur lights

burning into the night sky

obscuring the stars

still wanting to pee

still wanting to go home

but home is where the heart lies

*********************************************

Fraud

You are a fraud

pertaining to be

a solid object.

‘I am,’ you said,

‘That is enough.

To be.’

But you are just

as much an empty space

as me.

************************************************

on being

i can hear them constantly asking me

for forgiveness

asking for the earth

as though i have something to do with it

my voice is silent;

angrily assertive

my migraine worsens,

constant prayers.

i told al about it

he said i should listen

to his lot

wailing at all hours-

silence is my truth

i am nothing;

a product of mind,

an eddy in the void

(i go largely unheard)

hui neng reminded me

of the mountain that is

then isn’t

then simply is

of the mirror nowhere

shining bright

i took it to mean

don’t get involved

he laughed

a figment of the imagination

like my migraine

Writing CV

It is a New Year. I'd almost lost sight of that. To celebrate the New Year 2008, I thought I'd share with you my writing CV. And when I look at it, and see how paltry it is, it shall (I'm hoping) spur me on to improve by 2009!!!

Poetry: *Am not really a poet but dabble in it*

Poems included in Edge Hill's publication, 'Peggy's Blue Skylight', Issues No 3 & No 4, edited by Robert Sheppard.

Non-Fiction: *Lurve non-fiction*

2 Letters published in The Times Educational Supplement, 'Friday' magazine. 2002 + 2004.

Editing: What Shall We Write - An anthology of short stories by Year 4 children who attended my after-school writing club. The aim was that all profits from the sale of extra copies produced by the school would go into the English Department budget. 2003.

Article - won first prize for an article on 'Teacher Training', for ATL (Association of Teachers and Lecturers). 2003.

Two essays in The Road to Somewhere: A Creative Writing Companion Eds. Graham, et al. Palgrave Macmillan. 2004.

Fiction: *This is where I wanna be though*

'Bear Cubs' Short Sory published in Edge Hill's publication 'Two 4 Four', Issue 5, Spring 2002. The story was also broadcast on Radio Lancashire and was on their website for a time.

'The Little God of Insignificance' - Certificate of Merit at the Mere Literary Festival. 2004.

Short Stories - Commissioned to write a series of shorts for Young Voice - a children's charity. 2006.

Conference Papers: *Well 'paper' singular, but more to come, and got over the performance terror*

'From 7 Words a Day to The Squirms: Writer's Block - Myth or Reality?' 21 July 2007 at the Annual Short Story Conference at Edge Hill University.

This paper seeks to find an answer to the question of writer's block, and whether or not it is a reality, or an imagined condition. Drawing on a range of sources, from published writers to my own experiences, it is an investigative journey into writing processes and disruptions to those processes, arriving at the conclusion that perhaps such silences are indeed an integral and crucial part of creativity.

On-line Stuff: *Other stuff out there but you can jolly well find it yourself if you're that bothered!*

A Rainy Night in Malaga A short story that ended up here for some odd reason!
Spanish Tips at The Guardian

Current Work: *Need BIG KICK UP BUM with this one*

PhD: Out of Place: A Novel with an Exegesis: Hybridity in Form and Content.