After Roger McGough

Hi everyone.

On this blog I'll be introducing you to some of my poetry and also talking from time to time about writing for profit.

That is, writing sales copy for on and off-line, writing articles and getting them published, even writing a libretto.

I'll also be sharing some of my experiences (and lessons learned) as a professional writer.

So I hope to entertain, educate and inform, often at the same time.

As a poet, I'll admit to many influences, so my style will vary over time, but I think you'll detect a unique 'voice' anyway. Calling this first blog 'After Roger McGough' is a signpost to the way I'll employ these different influences to ring the changes as much as I can.

As a professional writer in other areas, it's more necessary to adopt different voices and styles, especially if we're writing 'on-spec' and trying to sell to a particular market.

So there you have my first tip - read thoroughly the publications you're aiming for and match your writing as far as you can to their house style. Don't try to 're-educate' them to accept yours!

I hope you'll enjoy visiting here.

Please feel free to comment and to ask questions.

Here's my first poem entry. In the event I've followed Philip Larkin. Roger McGough will follow in due course:

Reading Philip Larkin of a night
I'm taken with his easiness of grief,
his comfort in the fading of the light,
the way he shows despair as light relief,

and then despairs of others, turns to go
and writes of that departure never made.
Perfection's reprehensible, and so
he hates his own protagonist, who stayed.

He riles against religion and the cross,
but finds himself within the walls again.
His tomb speaks too romantically of loss,
preserves the loving lie for dying men.

But Larkin was a poet to the last:
his verses spoke of ambulance and flight
away from all we know, the fading past -
reading Philip Larkin of a night.


That's all for now. I'll be back with some more soon.