The thing I love about poems is you can carry them with you, wherever you go. There's poems I learned when I was a kid, that I still know by heart even today...
I've always loved writing lyrics and verse. In truth, it's a side of me I've somewhat neglected and I really should have written a lot more. But here, for the record, are a few little things, in the hope that, one day, there may be a few more...
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I wrote this a million years ago when I was still in my last year at university. It then grew into a one-man play on the Edinburgh Fringe, and two 4 x 30 min series on BBC Radio 4. I'll still perform it at the drop of a hat...
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I'm guessing this is the one they'll read at my funeral... To be honest, I'll be pretty pissed off if they dont.
The Ballad of Barry & The Bovver-Beavers
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A story in verse for children, about a young beaver, Barry, and his best friend, Keith, who also happens to be a tree.
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I wrote this for my friend Sarah B, who we lost to cancer in 2020. It's about growing up in Oxford in the late 1980s - an elegy to the lost world of the Carfax Crew.
Mary, Who Would Not Eat Her Vegetables
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I wrote this for my dear friend, Mary, on the occasion of her wedding to Patrick. Sadly, it proved utterly useless and she still refuses to eat her greens.
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I wrote this for Fanny, my late mother-in-law, who we tragically lost to Covid 19.
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This is very much a young man's poem. Not to be consumed by children.
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Actually, this one isn't a poem, it's a short story for kids, but I thought I'd sneak it in and hope no one would notice...