Thank you God to send an engle to protect me
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Interview
Why did you decide to write poems I didn't decide - they just started happening. When I was a teenager I hated school - I wrote poems for myself, and never for a moment thought they had anything to do with what we did in English. Then I began reading and imitating Keats, Dylan Thomas and Shelley among others - imitating them very badly! But I enjoyed it immensely. Gradually, through writing song lyrics for a spectacularly unsuccessful pop group, I found my own voice. I've been writing poems ever since, though they come less frequently now - but it's still just as exciting.
What do you like best about being a poet? I love the intensity of playing with words, savouring their different sounds and tastes, feeling their weight in my imagination. Seeing the world through images helps to remind me what a miraculous place it is.
If you weren't a poet, what else would you be? I couldn't imagine not writing poems. Other things I would like to do: to have played serious football, been a musician - either a composer or a jazz pianist.
As it is, I also write novels, short stories and plays. I sometimes work with musicians (opera libretti and the like) and work with children, helping them to have fun with their own imaginations - I really enjoy that.
Recently I have begun writing essay-type pieces for the newspapers - sometimes funny, sometimes serious, often both - this is new for me and keeps me on my toes with deadlines, word-counts and the like. It is a pleasure to see my work in print only a few days later - when I write a poem I usually wait for months, years sometimes, till it's published.
What or who has had the greatest influence on your poems?
Music of all kinds. Friends of all kinds.
Can you tell me best three poems you like I should in read website ?
yah i like all my poems may be i can say that i have my three favority poems like
Black history The color of discrimination and The feeling i can't explain
Take any anthology, open it at random and read the poem that's in front of you. It was important to at least two people, the poet and the editor. Read it again, this time very carefully - and try to see how it could be important to you. If it doesn't work for you, try to understand why not.
What top tips would you give to aspiring young poets?
Trust your imagination - and keep writing. If possible show your work to friends, listen to their feedback. You don't have to do what they suggest, but at least consider what they think. Maybe you have a couple of friends who also write - then share each other's work and talk about it. Writing can feel an isolating affair - but it doesn't have to be.
Also, read as much as you can. At your school you will find the poems people used to write in the past - it is worth remembering that these men and women started writing just like you at one time. , you will find poetry magazines filled with the poems and stories being written now. Read them too. Maybe one day soon you will have a poem in there yourself!
My first poem
Coming Home Daddy, I am on my way home They treated me bad They did not love me They did not want me They did not help me I had no one to turn to I am on my own again I do not want to give up But my strength is gone Crying like a baby There is no point Things will not get better If no one will help me I might as well come home Will you pick me up at the gate?
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