It's an odd claim to say, 'I'm a poet'. Nevertheless, here I am, being a poet. I write primarily for children: firstly, significant classroom experience means I'm familiar with what children like to read; secondly, children's poetry offers the challenge of creating accessible writing within tight structures of rhyme and metre.
I never expected to be a poet (although I always wanted to write for children having been an avid reader throughout my childhood). The intricacy of poetry, the accuracy of word choice, the sound and feel of a word's placement, is vastly appealing. Even more so is that a poem emerges from the page in front of the writer, sometimes after days or weeks of work and sometimes within minutes but this process is always a negotiation between the writer and the poem. My favourite piece of advice to any budding poet is to listen to your work and let the poem tell you what it wants to be.
In my spare time I enjoy playing music and walking my dog, Rosie. And, of course, when I'm out walking I'm generally thinking about poetry!
I never expected to be a poet (although I always wanted to write for children having been an avid reader throughout my childhood). The intricacy of poetry, the accuracy of word choice, the sound and feel of a word's placement, is vastly appealing. Even more so is that a poem emerges from the page in front of the writer, sometimes after days or weeks of work and sometimes within minutes but this process is always a negotiation between the writer and the poem. My favourite piece of advice to any budding poet is to listen to your work and let the poem tell you what it wants to be.
In my spare time I enjoy playing music and walking my dog, Rosie. And, of course, when I'm out walking I'm generally thinking about poetry!