Published Poetry

In response to requests I  have now published two collection of some of my poems.

 

I launched this website because it was a good way to float my poetry on the ether, and it is great fun.  When I found myself being asked “Have you published anything?”  I pointed to this website and various electronic publications my poems have appeared in such as ink-sweat-and tears, Snakeskin and Open Writing, and single poems published in various collations over the years, but had to admit there was no hard copy collection.

Now there are two!  My wife Jean  paid for publication of the first collection of my poems in 2011, so that I could put the whole publication together myself with selected images, as on the website.  David Thompson, a friend and former Art Critic of The Times, was keen to get a copy in his hands, so I gave him the task of proof reading.  However, I have to admit that after I made some final adjustments that the two minor typos in the book were mine!

 

If you would like a copy of Hard Won Words at a cost £8.00 including post and packaging (for the UK), please e-mail me at ivor@versifier.co.uk with your order, and I will make the arrangements.

 

Then in November 2019 I published a second collection, Reflection,

This has two main themes, the first part of the book is about the natural world, and the second half is more biographical. The link poem between the two sections came to me (see below) as I was finalising the collection, a memory from childhood.

 

Reflection of  Sunlight from a Starling’s Plumage

 

 Father handed me the loaded  four-ten shotgun.

My child’s hands took the  offered manhood

pushed it through the  shed door letterbox

took prolonged shaky aim, and finally fired.

 

Standing the weapon aside I opened the door

to find that there, in the scattered seeds,

I had killed beauty.

 

The cover of the recent collection is shown below.

If you would like a copy of Reflection at a cost £10.00 including post and packaging (for the UK), please e-mail me at ivor@versifier.co.uk with your order, and I will make the arrangements.