Poetry is so often related to place. Events and memories fuse together and particular places become locked in our hearts. We all have places that evoke emotional responses. They present as  recurring  thoughts. We find ourselves back in that place and thoughts spill out. The three poems I am sharing (below) are part of a much larger group of poems I wrote during my six years living and working in New York as an education consultant.  Subway Scenes Riding the subway I have a special wish That everybody had more room Then we wouldn’t HAVETOSQUISH Riding on the subway Like sardines in a can I’m pleased the air conditioning works As I didn’t bring a fan Riding on the subway Travellers one and all We ride the darkened underground And heed the station’s call Riding on the subway  We rattle, roll and shake We screech into each station Aboard our mechanical snake   © Alan j Wright Chicken Bones And A Dead Umbrella Walking on Union Street On a wet, wild, windswept day Th...

 Having recently worked on writing a verse novel centred on the life of an orphan boy living in Victorian England, I undertook a project requiring a great deal of reading research regarding life in general during this particular era. Historical accuracy was essential. Apart from supporting my writing efforts, this research extended my knowledge. It chipped away at my ignorance- and that's always welcome. A wealth of  information regarding the prevailing view of the child at that time was revealed. Children were to be seen and not heard. Discipline was often strict in the extreme. The belief being children were wilful and had to be taught to bend to the dictates of adults. In the eyes of many, the children of the poor became expedient factory fodder. They were exposed to exploitation, cruelty and danger.  Schooling for them was frequently over by the age of 11.  The poem I am sharing is based on actual accounts of the working lives of children in the factory system as...

Docupoetry Documentary, or Docupoetry poems combine primary source material with poetry writing. A number of sources may be accessed to inspire documentary poetry. Sources include: news articles  letters  photographs  diaries, journals  court transcripts  medical records  public records  non-fiction texts reports Poets can therefore access a wide range of documents brimming with poetic potential in the pursuit of such writing.  When writing a document poem, the poet may arrange lines or phrases from the source texts to create poems, convey their interpretation of the documents through original poetry, or write poems that fall on somewhere between these various approaches.  The resultant poem is therefore a hybrid creation. I find it instantly appealing.  Although poets choose many different sources and forms in creating documentary poems, many write with a common purpose: seeking social change, breaking silences, or highlighting injustic...

 As an educator and writer I appreciate the importance of sharing my writing with curious young learners. Their questions are essential in dispelling myths and misconceptions  surrounding writing. But equally important is the sharing of one's process. The journey is important, not merely the end product. The poem I am sharing today, was sparked by a photograph I noticed in a magazine supplement, attached to my weekend newspaper. It's summer in Australia, but to be honest it has not exactly dazzled so far. Some pleasant days intermingled with days of above average rain and skies of gloomy, grey clouds. Maybe my poem is inspired by wishful thoughts... The photo I found portrays a family walking along a beach close to sunset. The light is soft around them. They appear to be having family fun.  My gaze fell upon the words 'summer loving' included in a tourism advertisement on the adjoining page. I immediately cut the two items out and pasted them into my writer's notebo...

  Inspiration comes in many forms and from many places. Often it comes from merely going about our daily lives and making close observations. What did I see today that I want to respond to with words?  Inspiration can also come from what we read. It is said, you cannot be a writer/poet unless you are a reader. I strongly believe this is true. My reading life is rich and varied, quite consciously When I read 'Forever Words -The Unknown Poems' by Johnny Cash, I discovered his poetry and the poetry in his lyrics. The poems within reveal the depth of his understanding of the physical world and the emotional world.  He shares both the frailty and strength of the  human condition. As I read, I heard his unique voice and intonation. Cash's verse demonstrates for the reader his ability to reflect upon universal themes such as love, pain, freedom, and mortality. Most  people know him for his music. With these poems I got to know him for his broader talent as a poet....

Even in the middle of an Australian summer, grey days present. In door days. Days perfect for rummaging and exploring. Days made for book looks... And so this poem has arisen from searching through the books contained in my personal library. I found ephemera secreted by various readers, myself included. Such is the randomness of discovery. Go in search of treasure fellow poets. See what it sparks... Things Found Hiding In Books what motivates the hiding of ephemera among the words composed by others? the secreting of flimsy slips of memory laden paper between the pages of books. solemn offerings  in some randomly chosen volume of poetry -a recipe book,  -a mystery story… these pages capable of cocooning a secret. pages,  entrusted to hold selected offerings. these guardians patiently awaiting some future reader to come calling, rummaging perhaps. the book plays custodian across an indefinite timespan, before fortuitously revealing once more to the light a long held treasu...

 Autumnal Offerings Autumn giveaways Golden vestments Shed  Alan j Wright

In his 1954 poem, '13 ways of Looking at a Blackbird,' Wallace Stevens wrote thirteen short verses providing different images of blackbirds.  Michelle McGrane adopted a similar stance in writing her poem 'Thirteen Ways With Figs' where she wrote 13 slightly longer stanzas.  Looking at a particular  object from different perspectives  we learn to trust the images that offer themselves up. I decided to imitate the style of these earlier poets to inform my own poetry writing. I chose as my subject the enduring image of a large oak tree that stood in the yard of our family home, when I was growing up. I have modified the format of the earlier poems slightly, choosing to use seven, three line stanzas. The lines possess a consistent brevity. Oak Tree Perspectives Shade giver,  Backrest For a young reader Autumn giveaways Golden vestments Shed  Time resistor  Gnarled weathered skin Mossy trunk Climbing frame Lookout spot For spying eyes An acorn carpet B...

New VIDEO, Read Aloud of the poem- ' Summer Comes Rushing' taken from my most recent anthology, ' What The Poemster Found.' Enjoy...

 'In our lives we need both the comforts of repetition and the delights of change and they need to be in balance. Too much repetition means a routine of dull habit, of closing out the world. Too much change and we lose our centre. The same principle applies to poems that use repetition.' Kim Addonizo and Deborah Laux, 'The Poet's Companion : A guide to the Pleasure of Writing Poetry, 1997'   Repetition can be used in a variety of ways: A word is repeated at different points. A phrase is repeated. One line is repeated throughout the poem. An entire stanza is repeated. Many times, repeated phrases or lines come at the beginning and end of stanzas or poems. The repetition of words become an echo; a familiar melody running throughout the poem. Here is a poem by English poet John Rice that uses repetition and rhyme to good effect. ON SOME OTHER PLANET On some other planet  near some other star,  there’s a music-loving alien  who has a green estate car  On some o...