This pamphlet is one section of a wider compilation called Plough Lines and contains work to, for and about God. Some of the poems are prayers and some are about my relationship with Him; my Lord, my Father and my indwelling Inspiration. For some reason, the poems I write about God are never my best – I think it’s because I know so many hymns, worship songs and written down prayers that nothing quite feels original. Never mind though, this is just a little expression of my faith – enjoy it, be irritated by it, challenge it…make of it what you will.

So often one hears or reads of the subtlety of poetry - of poems which are perceived to fulfil the role of the finely machined key, unlocking the door, beyond which lies the inner depths of the psyche of the poet. I fear that there is little that is remotely subtle about my poetry. No beautifully crafted key and the slick turning of the well oiled lock. More a battering ram, pounding away at the barricades, erected over many years, before I can get remotely near to the doors of my own perception.

...has given me more time to dedicate to my writing, which I have found immensely fulfilling.  First waking is a favourite time to write and incubate ideas; this is when I feel the most creative - the most in touch with dreams and the subconscious.  'Swimming in the Welland' stemmed directly from a vivid dream. Journeys are also a good source of inspiration; the draft of 'In Transit' was written on the actual plane journey.

I am fifteen year old student, who is passionate about creative writing as a source of expressing feelings and emotions. For me, I think being able to express emotions through writing, especially at my age, is very important. I have always written poetry and stories and things, from quite a young age, but I recently went on a course about creative writing, and that has got me more inspired to write. I wrote a few things that I showed to friends at first, and they said that I should get my work published, so I suppose this is it.

There is no part of this collection that doesn’t come from some small part of me, although I stress that at the same time it is not autobiographical.

These poems are taken from experience and subconscious, via a slight obsession with the semi colon. They blend together in the same way that various fragments of interest coexist in every human’s brain, and hopefully they represent the tapestry of existence.

Colours, shapes ,textures, sounds, smells, affect me profoundly.

...people go that bit deeper.

I write what I know about, hope about, feel glad and ashamed of.

if some folk can't see what I'm seeing, then I'm sorry, I didn't get it right?

..........Don't bother reading any more then.

I'm English but have lived in Wales since 1985.  Been writing most of my life (with gaps when life took over). The longest gap began in my teens and lasted years, occasioned by reading Yeats and deciding that, since I could never equal  'And evening full of the linnets' wings' I'd better give up writing poetry.  Fortunately the urge re-erupted after some years. The poems in this pamphlet are from my book Sun on the Hill and are mostly written since moving to my adopted land of Wales.

I am not a confident user of the English language, certainly not in a formal sense having left school many years ago as a fifteen year old sports mad youngster; Penistone Grammar school came and went  without any qualifications, and even less attendance in the English classes of my teachers at the time. Poetry is now though the anchor to much of my life; perhaps my lack of understanding of the rules and theorems helps, that is for you to decide, all I can say is that it is a great enjoyment to be able to write down these personal evocations.