Hello everyone, With Book 2 nearly ready, I did some planning for the next two books in The Ardenna Crossing series. So, while you wait for Book 2 to be released later this year, I can reveal the working titles for Books 3 and 4. Book 3 – The Ardenna Crossing: Like The Flapping of […]
Read more "The Ardenna Crossing: Title Announcement"Hi there, One last poem I had forgotten about from my trip to the Tate Britain. This one is based on Mona Hatoum’s installation made up of wood and wire coops with light bulbs flaring and switching on and off. The electrical hum put me in mind of David Lynch, as did the varying contrast […]
Read more "Current Disturbance- a poem"Hi there, Another day, another poem. This one is based on JMW Turner’s beautiful picture, The Field of Waterloo (1818). I’d never noticed this picture before I saw it last weekend. Lovely. The Field of Waterloo Minister to them,The fallen; intermingled colours,Joined in death as an endless host,Indistinguishable,Red favours adorn them all, Kindled light of […]
Read more "The Field of Waterloo- a poem"Hi there, Another poem with a very different subject from the Tate. This is based on Northumbrian artist, John Martin’s painting from 1851-3. I hadn’t seen any of his work for ages. I think I saw his Sodom and Gomorrah piece years and years ago. he has a knack for big landscapes. I couldn’t come […]
Read more "The Great Day of His Wrath- a poem"Hi everyone, Episode 20 – The Forest of Silent Screams (Part 2) 20 episodes. Can you believe it? Haydon, Ivy, Polly, Cian and I finish off the tale of Jamie Stevens. He’s hiked into the woods to find a special fungus to cure his father. What he finds with it is terror and confusion. There […]
Read more "Shott Stories – Episode 20 Available Now"Hi there, Another poem with a very different subject from the Tate. This is based on James Tissot’s painting from 1876, Summer (Portrait). Miss Lloyd Stay, You cannot come,It cannot be,I dress for another,Promenade for anotherStay your declarations,Your protestations,Your talk of love,Feelings are useless to me,Useless as the shade I carry,That cannot halt the punishing […]
Read more "Miss Lloyd- a poem"Hi there, Another poem with a very different subject from the Tate. This is based on John Everett Millais’ painting from 1874, The Northwest Passage. Weathered He cannot tell it,Aged Captain wants for wordsDaughter reads instead the tale,Of each knot tied, each wave ridden,Feeling through pages stained with salt spray, His record; this man,Removed from […]
Read more "Weathered – a poem"Hi there, A second poem with a very different subject from the Tate. This is based on Elizabeth Butler’s painting from 1879, The Remnants of an Army. Just a couple of haikus. Into Jalalabad Beaten beyond hope,Ragged mount can bear no more,Return him in shame. Dust disturbed for nought,Settled after marching feet,Shifting now for what? […]
Read more "Into Jalalabad – a poem"Hi there, Got some inspiration today. I spent the day editing The Ardenna Crossing: A Thousand White Fragments, but also had the chance to mooch around The Tate Britain for a good while, taking in some pictures and generating some ideas. I have a few to come, but this is the first, based on Luke […]
Read more "The Doctor – a poem"Hi everyone, Remembered this today, and realised that I had never posted it here before. A few years ago I entered a competition to write an extra page from Laura Palmer’s secret diary. This was my entry, which ended up winning the competition; the first time I’ve ever won anything for my writing. I found […]
Read more "Laura Palmer’s Secret Diary – missing page"Books, games, music, and life — filtered through the mind of a writer, drummer, and philosopher who thinks too deeply about all of it. If it moves something in your chest, I'm interested.
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