There, I’ve got that out of my system. It may not seem a big thing, but for many years I struggled to call myself a writer - even though that was patently what I was doing!
Yes, it’s all tied up with comparison and imposter syndrome that plague so many creative people.
I write what I call non-conformist long-form Poetry. It is closest in style to the French “vers libre” or free verse. I call it long-form because it rarely fits onto one page of A4. Many of my poems are vignettes (a brief evocative description, account, or episode). I call it non-conformist because I like to play around with the placement of the words on the pages and the length of the stanzas.
Here, storytelling is not confined to a single page, and syntax is not mangled to meet a rhyme scheme. Stanzas flex their length, sentences are split and line breaks are used to slow your reading down.
I hope these stories, musings and ponderings seep into your soul and be slow-cooked by your imagination. To become a marvellous, rich stew of ideas and emotions.
What I write is largely inspired by my stumbling walk through the Christian life. Some are more overtly Christian than others. But I hope what I write is accessible and resonates with anyone, whether they are a person of faith or not.
I’ve been writing off and on since my late teens but really re-kick-started my writing back in 2016. Since then, I’ve performed at the Newday, Catalyst and Kingstock festivals. I have also been part of the Sputnik and Morphe Arts groups.
I’m born and bred in the UK, growing up in North Surrey in the lovely small village of Ottershaw. I went to university in London (Woolwich to be precise) studying Computer Science. After graduating, I moved to South Buckinghamshire near High Wycombe, where I met and married my wife Johanna. We raised two wonderful children who are now grown adults making their own way in life. In 2024 we decided to move areas and now live to the west of Cambridge.
When I’m not working at my “day job” in IT (Agile Delivery Management to be precise) or writing, I enjoy largish DIY projects and rebuilding and restoring classic cars and motorcycles. I have been riding motorbikes since I was 16 and have a particular liking for Italian V-twin bikes. I still have the Moto Morini 350 Sport I bought when I was at university - it’s my next restoration project! My current daily rides are a Moto Guzzi v7 850 and a Yamaha XJ600S Diversion.
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I’m Neil and I’m a Poet.
There, I’ve got that out of my system. It may not seem a big thing, but for many years I struggled to call myself a writer - even though that was patently what I was doing!
Yes, it’s all tied up with comparison and imposter syndrome that plague so many creative people.
I write what I call non-conformist long-form Poetry. It is closest in style to the French “vers libre” or free verse. I call it long-form because it rarely...
In the world of the sound-bite and 10-second attention span, this is your invitation and permission to slow down.
This is a book of non-conformist poetry inspired by the Christian life. Here story telling is not confined to a single page and syntax is not mangled to meet a rhyme scheme. Stanzas flex their length, sentences are split and line...
I started writing my poems shortly after I became a Christian in my late teens. It was a way of me processing all the changes that were going on in my life.
Not that I called them poems. In my mind (heavily coloured by the way I was taught about poetry in English Literature at school) as they did not rhyme and did not have a regular, repeating stanza structure, they could not be poems.
However, I still felt compelled to write and to share with my...
