Living At That Pitch, On That Edge,

There's Very Little Of The Intentional About The Business Of Writing Poetry, As Least As Far As I Can See.

I Suppose For Whatever Reason I Actively Welcome Being Put Down, Something Which Perhaps Goes Back To My Upbringing - That Accusation Of Not Being Worthy Which Could Be Laid At One's Door.

The Point Of Poetry Is To Be Acutely Discomforting, To Prod And Provoke, To Poke Us In The Eye, To Punch Us In The Nose, To Knock Us Off Our Feet, To Take Our Breath Away.

I Believe That These Devices Like Repetition And Rhyme Are Not Artificial, That They're Not Imposed, Somehow, On The Language.

Obviously One Of The Things That Poets From Northern Ireland And Beyond - Had To Try To Make Sense Of Was What Was Happening On A Day-to-day Political Level.