Ian Stuart

I’ve been writing poetry, on and off, all my life. First of all there was the Adrian Mole period, when I wrote reams of passionate devotion to that girl who lived down the road and smiled at me...once. Then I went to college, put on a black roll neck, and churned out song lyrics so abstruse that even I didn’t know what I meant.

I was a teacher for thirty years and wrote nothing. Nuff said.

Retirement was ( and is) wonderful. No piles of exercise books to mark. I never have to read the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins again.

I started writing again. And it was fun. I discovered that writing poetry is a bit like doing a crossword puzzle - only you have to invent the clues as well as the answers. It’s a matter of weighing one word against another, tying lines together with rhyme. It’s an intellectual challenge - and an emotional one as well. In the end all poetry is about love or death, so you’re dealing with powerful feelings here.

And sometimes it works. Try “ Quantum Theory for Cats” which is funny, sad,lyrical and available here on Amazon.

Don’t think I’m leaning on my laurels, getting a book published. I’m working away on more poems, night and day.

Now what rhymes with ‘orange’ ....?