I am a poet and printmaker and I make artists's books which often contain both art and poetry. I could therefore fit into either category of writer or artist. I was born and brought up in Portsmouth and the concept of the sea and islands has featured widely in all the mediums I work in.
The artist's book is called "The Book of Us (Portsea)" printed and hand-bound as a stub binding. The book could be reproduced as poetry and art together if writing and photographs were presented as single sheet pages. Other prints are small collagraphs of various seascapes, where land is mostly represented in deep blue.
IN PRAISE OF BLUE
Because there was a blue heat
sweating our bodies to a slow burn -
Because there was a pure sea
edging the sunset to a swift end -
Because there was a wide bay
gritting its teeth on our soft skin -
Laughter egged us on
ephemeral, insouciant,
because the hills will never seem so high again
and loose-limbed beaches never
so stretched out, tanned and warm again,
we had these seven blue days
and because it was a week where we lost time
I will always lose time remembering.
.