Top 10 of 2025

This was a year with potentially my performing high (getting to support Harry Baker!), and also a year I got more poems accepted and published than I have before :)

I also started making decorated versions of a lot more of my poems, something I'm going to try to continue going forward as I explore different ways I can tell stories (maybe once a month?). 

Despite that, it feels like I took a step back this year. A combination of work, Ultimate, and injuring my ankle meant I didn't perform anywhere near as regularly as in 2024. Sometimes you just need to keep yourself going, ready to peak if the opportunity arises. That might be where I have to hold myself, for now. I think I'm in for a bus 2026 too.

I did write some cool poems though! Just writing weekly means you tend to write something your proud of, even if it's accidentally. Here's some of my favourites.

Favourite Poem

Time isn't money - This poem starts with a simple premise: what are all the ways that time *isn't* the same as money (counter to the popular phrase). It led to a good amount of deep thinking, as well as leading to some very fun flowing lines and rhythms.  

Poems about my life

As I've started reflecting on my old poems more, I've really started appreciating poems directly inspired by moments in my life - poems that no one else could have written!

Rosie in Lidl - I started the year in Cheltenham with my brother and his family, including my young niece Rosie. This poem is basically a little photograph of a real moment - shopping in Lidl with my brother and alternating between finding the food and distracting the children. This is very different to my natural hip-hop style, but I think it's a lot stronger because of its simplicity.   

Home, but new - Moving to Bristol was definitely a bit of a stress. There's always so much to manage when moving, and for the first time in a long time I also had to sort out everything, from bills to building a new bed. Realising that your time and energy is limited (and also you should respect your neighbours by not hammering a desk in the early hours), you realise what you need to prioritise. I also didn't have a car, so I couldn't get everything in a single shop! I'm quite happy I now have a poem to capture these days.

For Will and Laura - A wedding poem, and one I was particularly proud of. There's always a sense of "is this going to be too generic" when I'm writing these. I've written a few now, but given it's the couple's special day I'll only write one if I actually think there's a unique angle I can take. With this one, I leant into the fact Will and I both love Hadestown by borrowing the theme of "melody", and the fact we were childhood friends by imagining being his friend as akin to witnessing a melody which has turned into a harmony. It's also my first poem (to my knowledge) for which I have a full translation into another language!

Poems about Christianity

I manged to find myself at two different churches this year - Holy Apostles in Cheltenham, and Redland in Bristol. As a result of being exposed to a lot of different Christians and different ways of thinking, I ended up writing and thinking a lot about Christianity this year.

Christian Hate - My most thoroughly peer-reviewed poem this year. I'm always nervous writing about theology, because unlike with regular poetry it is very much possible to get things wrong. I started with the question "When, if ever, is it right for a Christian to hate?" and went from there. It's one of those really interesting poems where I ended up discovering my own philosophy while I'm writing and reflecting.

Imagining Heaven - There will always be a part of my brain that thinks about death, and what might come under. It is the great question I will never answer. As such, it was tough to think of what angle to approach this from. I was somewhat inspired by a conversation in church where an older friend told me they attend more funerals than weddings these days. It very much sent me down a route of thinking, and I'm glad I had poetry as an outlet for those thoughts.



Poems of self-reflection

In some ways, all poems I write will always be reflections of myself. Some are a little bit deeper though, really delving into the way I'm feeling and how I'm thinking. I try not to write too many of these, but I do think the ones I do write end up being my most powerful.

Dear Harry - It's not the first poem I've written directly to myself, and it wont be the last. A long term goal of mine has been to allow myself to be more vulnerable. It's often a balance between making sure I'm allowing myself to be open and making sure I'm also not leaning too much into the poetry to make things seem worse than they are (especially as I know some people very close to me read this blog, and I don't want them worrying unnecessarily!). 

DOOMed philosophy - When I was back in York, I managed to pop along to my old poetry night. Someone there said he recognised me from many months ago - and that he remembered my old poem inspired by MF DOOM. It inspired me to write another - as these types of poems are very dense and I worry no one will understand them. So finding someone who loves this style of flow as much as I do was very heartening. I also really enjoy the poem I ended up writing - about acknowledging the hypocrisy we all carry.

Poems about a fragile Earth

The world is changing - quite quickly in some ways. It's interesting then, to have some poems in this transition period. Poems which might later prove to be foolish or prescient.

Art Instantly - It's interesting being someone creative who also works with AI - but keeping those two aspects of myself completely separate. I feel very rich for learning how to create in the way I have, but I've spent a fair bit of time trying to figure out the best way that society should interact with AI. It's a very powerful tool, but it has its limitations - certainly in its current state. 

The arts exist until they don't - Whenever I end up regularly attending an open mic night, I always become very attached to it. I've seen many nights start and stop. I've seen behind the curtain. There's no guarantee of a world in which artists can make a living and ply their trade. In Cheltenham, there was no regular night, and I couldn't find a poetry community. As such, this poem is both a direct tribute to Mike's Open Mic nights, and a reflection on the value of arts within a community.

From the brink of extinction - Sometimes, I write poems along with other people. We both get a theme, and then try to create something on that theme. A good friend of mine - Polly - did a lot of drawings of near-extinct animals. So I gave her a twist on her usual style: "back from extinction". It led to two very interesting creations that came from very different directions.

Honourable Mentions:

Words Wax - I love the wordplay here, but this is a poem that's only a week old at time of writing and it needs to be performed a couple of times before I can know if it's actually any good...

Because the world is not static - A poem accepted for forge press on the theme of migration - I do like this one, but it's also very recent and so I need a little longer for it to sit with me.
good things in bad days - A poem about how even a bad day can contain nice things. 
In place of listening - I really like the structure of this poem about listening, it might be one I need to do a full graphic of to let it fully breath.
Scientific Poetry - The idea of mathematics and science being a separate language which cannot be fully translated is one I've been dwelling on. I actually think it's been really useful for communication - acknowledging there are elements lost in translation is better than pretending nothing is.

Top 10 of 2024

It is quite something to be actively performing throughout a year. It give a new feeling to writing, knowing that each poem might find fresh air before too long. Also, to know that people are interested in what you're writing, and keen to hear what's next.

It's a nice feeling.

I've been trying to work on getting some poems together in a book, but sadly (?) I got a new job and that put things on the backburner. I'm writing this here to help hold myself accountable. 

Anyway, here are 10 of my favourite poems this year.

Favourite Poem

Purpose - My favourite poem of the year - and very fitting that it's one about trying to explore why we do things. One of those rare times in writing when a first line just comes to you, and then then rest of the poem responds as you carve it out. I really enjoy both the message and the structure of this poem - actually to the point that I need to make sure one doesn't supersede the other when I perform. 

Written due to being more focused on poetry this year

3am friends - This poem actually got accepted to anthology! I've been trying to submit more this year, which can be draining. One of the very cool writer friends I hang out with was putting together a collection on the theme of "debauchery", and, well, I wanted to see what a wholesome take I could have was. I settled on the moment where you find kinship at a low point. I really like the picture this one paints.

Noise around me - This year, I actually started to write a lot more away from my computer. I would meet friends in coffee shops and try to create. This lead to a lot of different types of poetry, more formed by my surroundings. This is both a nice memory of those experiences, and also a very fun mixing of form and content, deliberately trying to evoke the feel of hustle and bustle before calm.

A sad poet - I don't write a lot of sad poems, at least, not in the way my friends at the Sad Poet's Doorstep Club are able to. So, as a goodbye, I tried to write about why sad poems are so important. As such, I'm very fond of both the message I manage to tell, and the memories tied up in how I've put the poem into the world.

Optimism Poems

Good to be a Fool - I always find hope feels more genuine when it comes from a non-ideal place, and acknowledges that optimism can be hard. This poem fully leans into that, although when writing it I did find an extra theme emerging of helping a friend who might be thinking of suicide. This "nuanced optimism" of mine was still apparently overly optimistic for a friend of mine, who wrote a poem inspired by it that tweaked it in a respectful but darker way.

The Right Words - The scientist in me loves probability, and thinking of alternate futures. When I've faced a difficult situation, I've sometimes wondered - "Are there some ideal actions that could get me through this? What are they?". I've definitely had this feeling when someone is feeling down and I want to do my best to support them, but I'm not sure how. 

Support Poems

New Punk? - One thing I try to be very careful about is that I'm not being performative - I should mean the words I say (or, at least, the character I'm writing should mean them). This means I don't write much about LGBTQ+ issues - sexuality and gender are very personal experiences, and I have not gone through them. I'm glad I was able to write this then, which is a genuine poem of support that comes from a place I do have experience - the philosophies of punk.

Women's Sport - I deeply care about sport, and that it should be available to all. Again though, it's hard to write in a way that's not performative when you are not experiencing the thing you're writing about. I often find I need a specific angle to write from, to feel like I'm telling the story in a different way. It also helps when you see something and are genuinely inspired by that approach. One of the only poems I've written inspired by negative inspiration I think (being annoyed at something, rather than elevated).

Experimental Structures

Find Your Drumkit - I will always try to find space for more experimental poems. For longer ones that take a bit more time to write. Inspired by the spoken word parts of Dikembe by Scottie Spliffen, I liked the idea of a drumkit as an expression of identity. Definitely not just an excuse for me to incorporate some beatboxing into a performance. I really tried to let myself be guided by spontaneity when forming this one, trying to mimic a Jazz drum solo.

Feelings - I love the spoken word that can exist within songs. Regular dialogue with music backing that serves as a guidance for the lyrics to come. I really want to play more with that in structures, and I wish I had the music ability to make songs directly. Ah well.

Other fun poems: 

What Inspires, a poem about inspiration coming from all sorts of sources.

Caring Openly, a poem about being genuine in compassion for others.

What is love, a poem nuancing on scientific approaches to understand love

Habits and Rituals, a lovely flow poem about the importance of schedules.

Remember they were human, a remembrance poem I wrote that I feel I may grow fonder of over the years.

Top 10 of 2023

 This year, I started performing poetry again. I got to rediscover old poems by learning them, tweaking them slightly, and giving them life on stage. It was a good year. Especially since I've now been writing for over a decade! 

I kept writing too. Here are some of my favourites.

I wrote two poems this year inspired by the musical styling of Hotel Brooks and Listener, who are bands with this really cool semi-shouting raw vocals that I really wanted to learn to emulate myself. It's always a good thing when words seem to flow naturally, and I really do think it's a new form that I can explore even more.

She could never believe she was beautiful (directly inspired by the themes and rhythms)

To be trees (taking the rhythms, trying to make something new)

A big poetry thing for me this year was starting to perform again (shot out to York Howlers). The way their nights work, I've been focused on memorising and perfecting some, but also giving a second chance to some slightly rougher work, depending on what the mood is that week. Then again, even knowing I'm going to be performing has got me exploring the rhythm of poetry again in a way I think I've let slide a little bit.

How to make the perfect Victoria sponge (an earlier poem in the year I revisited)

I'm feeling a rhyme (a poem written with performance in mind)

I had a little bit of a rough year stress-wise. So some of my way of dealing with that is always going to come out in the poetry. The idea of knowing that things wont always go well and how to deal with it is something that was big on my mind. 

You can never behave perfectly (accepting imperfection)

I am a fixer, I swear (the need for redemption)

One thing I will always love is conversations with people. I love discovering a new group of friends and having that feeling of easy conversation flow. Conversations can seem like a very small part of our day-to-day, but they can also be very major things in our life. The latter poem is dedicated to a very particular conversation.

Why we Smile (a conversation-style poem)

Words on Wind (dedicated to Tim Keller)

I started to realise how impactful some of the things I do are this year, to the point I'm really catching myself in decisions where I'd be happy to let things flow before. And there is a balance - times when it's good to recognise those moments. These are also two poems with very different forms an inspirations - the first inspired by a night core song with <1000 views, and the second one of the first four-line poems I let myself do (after 10+ years of writing, I no longer feel like I'm cheating if I write a short poem).

A moment (night core inspired song)

The task ahead (an actual short poem)

Top 10 of 2020

2020 was a rough year, globally. For me, I felt that was true from a creative standpoint as well. Yet, looking back at what I manged to make, I am glad I made the effort to make myself keep writing. I have a number of poems I'm very proud of, and I adored getting one final live performance in February before things began to change.

2020 will always remind me of a few things. I managed to hand in my thesis, do my corrections, and finally pass my doctoral degree. As such I had to start looking towards the future. The stress and uncertainty is reflected in a number of my poems for this year. Additionally, Covid-19 caused a worldwide pandemic, and much of my poetry during the first lockdown reflects that since I couldn't think of anything else. It led to me travelling a lot locally, and a lot less travelling beyond that which I could cycle. 

More than any other year, I look back at my poetry in 2020 and I see who I was reflected in it. Here are the 10 I want to most remember.

1. When the History Books are Written

Written as my first response to the pandemic. There is optimism in this poem that I still want to hold myself to. It is odd to think that the world is going through a historic change - we are often prone to hyperbole, so sometimes it feels like we are *always* going through world-changing times. I was still writing up at this point, so my thesis still held a lot of my focus and attention. The sheer impact of things wouldn't hit me until later.

2. Refugee's Pain

As the pandemic went on, you saw every hot take imaginable. Fresh perspectives became hard, particularly ones that were actually useful. As such, I am very proud of this poem. We all lost privileges we had taken for granted in order to keep others safe, and so we were closer than we had ever been before to many in the world. 

3. Through the Wires

It feels odd that this was written in February, but this pre-Covid poem about the wonders of electronic communication captures a lot of the feel of 2020. We learned how limited our energy was, despite how easy technology made it for us to stay in touch. And, as such, how vital it was we used well the energy we had.

4. Planets don't Think

I found myself doing a lot less of my classic hip-hop-y style this year. Maybe it's because I've been taking life a bit slower. However, it's still my favourite style to write in and I do life both the rhythm and theme of this poem. The first of a fair few end-of-the-world style poems.

5. If the World Does End

A short, sweet poem about optimism in the face of uncertainty. Can't think why I was inspired to write this poem in this of all years.

6. Peace is not the Absence of Noise

I like poems that help me express my philosophy on a subject more clearly, and this was certainly one of those times. The idea of peace as a harmony rather than silence is very appealing to me, and a concept I'd like to hold myself to.

7. The Mountain

I wrote a lot of poems about future jobs and prospects, but this is the imagery I like the best. I was fed up with CVs, and trying to big myself up. Seeing us all as climbing a mountain - and realising that just looking at the people highest up the mountain can be misleading - was a refreshing way to view the struggle.

8. How to Rest

A big theme for my year, and one I wrote a lot of poems about. How to make myself rest again after being tuned so high for so long. Not a new theme for me, but for when this poem was written I think it'll still hold a special place.

9. Ow, My Legs Hurt

Speaking of rest, I ended up doing a *lot* of cycling this year. This is a short, silly, and quite sweet poem that I really enjoyed. Sometimes the only thing on your mind is the pain in your legs, and so that's what you write about.

10. Stretch

A final one, from a theme by a friend. We all are feeling a little cooped up this year. Remembering to stretch - in all the ways you can stretch - has been a useful thing. And a nice thing to end on.

Honourable mentions: Matchsticks, a lovely poem about the different forms of human potential; The Early Bird Gets the Worm, a re-telling of a very popular idiom; and Sport is a Fantasy, a concept I really liked that I may revisit at some point in future.

Top 10 of 2019

It is tough, after writing so much, not to let creativity become routine. I've tried to let the time I've set aside for poetry be a focus for creating something new, rather than an urge to meet a deadline. It's been a tough year, but I still think I've found some time to let the spark fly :)

Weirdly, the ones I'm proudest of this year all sort of all in pairs. There were many others I loved -Caterpillar was a special poem for a friend, Identity made me delve into how I think of myself, Fantasy reminded me why it's important to create, Wordweaver captured an Alan Moore idea of the power of ideas, Told was inspired by the climate protesters, and Our Challenges Are As Unique As Our Gifts took two ideas I knew well (everyone is unique, everyone has challenges) and connected them in a way I hadn't managed before.

Motivation

Aesop Inspired
I am a huge huge fan of the artist Aesop Rock, he has this incredibly interesting way of rhyming - filled with analogies and never shying away from describing things in interesting ways. This is probably the poem I've written that has come closest to capturing that style for myself. On top of that, it has a lot of lines and imagery that I just adore. One I was rewriting for a long time, because it seems like this might be one of those poems I love but other can't connect to (potentially because Aesop's style is eclectic and I'm struggling to match it). I don't care. One of those I've memorised because I adore the rhythm so much.

Poem Catcher
Sometimes simplicity is the solution. It can be tough to keep writing poetry, especially after all this time - and I really want to keep changing up how and what I write. This was one of those times when I was struggling and just took a shot at a much simpler style of poem. It ended up being very fun - exploring a slightly surreal idea, but being very visual and not exploring it too long. I really liked it, and if any of my arty friends want to have a go at drawing it let me know ;)

Religious Poems

Faith
Inspired my a mental health in Christianity day my church ran. A friend of mine used the line "my faith is not my depression", and it got me inspired to think about all the things faith isn't (and is). I'm always really scared when writing something like this that I'll make some big theological faux pas, but I was very happy with how this turned out. I loved embracing the "CS Lewis letter" style of writing, and I think I helped capture something unique on the way.

Good Friday
One of those poems that changed the way I think about things. I remember, very clearly, getting the idea of "what if humanity could be represented as kids on a playground?". I remember being kind of sad that I didn't have the skill to write such a thing - in my head the idea worked best as a children's book format, and I don't have the best prose. As it is, I had a go anyway (I think with the encouragement of a friend), and I am so, so happy with how it turned out. A bit of a theme, but it really helped me visualise a lot of the actions of humanity - I feel like a lot of history can be interpreted in this way without losing much nuance.

Empathy

Where Passion is Sewn

I have a lot of odd tastes. I know this, and embrace it a little bit. This does mean that, in public, I'll rarely hear music I love - and also that I don't want to subject others to something that I know is unlikely to suit their palette. What is tough though, is to make sure I'm always encouraging of people with different tastes (I can't be the only one who inadvertently finds themselves making fun of odd habits, no matter how hypocritical that is). This is a little poem to remind myself of that - to adore the passion in others and encourage it where I can.

Take on the World

Outside of poetry, I also do some sports journalism. This year, I took a bit of a step back from quantity and tournament reports, and focussed instead on a few high quality pieces. One of them was an interview with a friend about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She described her symptoms as "a battery that couldn't fully charge". Shortly after, I myself got ill and had similar (though far, far less severe) symptoms of fatigue. I tried to use what I had learned from her to express that irritation of fatigue in a poem, and I hope I did it justice.

Big Ideas

Give Love a Try
Inspired by a spirited discussion with a friend about Christianity. My friend raised the (very legitimate) point about the harm Christianity has caused over the years. Fairly off the cuff (i.e. I sat at the screen a while pondering a response) I responded that many big ideas - regardless of how benevolent they may seem - have also been used for harmful ends. I gave science and love as two examples, and pondering over it, I realised how interesting it would be to write a poem from the perspective of two evangelists for the idea of love and a skeptic. I saw a little of myself on both sides of the argument, but the line "love is perfect, those who practice it are not" came from the evangelist, though it mirrored my thoughts in a way I hadn't expressed before. I do love writing from characters, I need to try it more.

Here is a Truth
I know I was discussing truth and lies, but I cannot remember how this idea came into my head. What I do remember though, is once the idea was there, finding it very fun to follow through. Listing all the types of lies/liars/truths and then finding a common uniting theme for each was a very fun idea, and made me do a few mental gymnastics I hadn't had to do before. I'd love more ideas like this, as tough as they are to write.

Communication

The Girl Who Dreams in Books
Written for a friend, and I loved how this one turned out (although I feel I have a lot of friends this could apply to). Again, I love the slightly surreal imagery. Dreams is an issue I've tackled a fair amount before, so when I say I think this is my best take on it I'm acknowledging how tough that task is. Maybe there's also a longing here myself - my reading has had to take a big back step in recent years, so hopefully I can inspire myself back into the pages again.

Another Tongue
I am very lucky to live in an anglo-centric world where I can travel to many different countries and meet people who know my native tongue. It's not the first time I've tackled the topic of how amazing I find people who can speak more than one language, but I think this one shows my progression as a writer. It was also very fun to perform this in front of the German society!


Many thanks to you for reading this too! I can't believe how long I've been writing now. If you every read one and want to chat about it, I would love to. It's hard work writing, but the conversations I've had inspired by the poems have been one of the things which ahve helped keep me going :)

Top 10 of 2018

Amazingly, I'm still going. If you'd asked me in January 2013 whether I'd complete the year, I'm not sure I'd have thought it possible. Five years of poetry down, and I'm starting to get ok at the whole thing.

I like to take a period at the end of each year to actually think about if I'm still producing things I enjoy, and still pushing myself in new directions. Here are ten poems I enjoyed writing this year.

Is life a race, or a dance?
One of the real benefits of writing is that it allows me to take any phrase or idea I hear, and try to re-frame it in a way which makes it fundamentally my own. I loved the idea when I heard it, and sitting down and crafting out a poem (in an atypical structure for myself) really helped solidify the idea in my head. This was one of the poems which really made me feel it was possible (if not easy) for me to write in a way other than that which comes naturally to me.

Vulnerable
In an age of polish and social media, we try to present ourselves as perfect individuals. We talk about all the good things we're doing, and hide the imperfections. "Vulnerable" follows on from my old poem Monsters (still one of my favourites), but doesn't try to hide behind a layer of metaphor and humour. I performed this one on my Facebook, and it seems to have connected with a number of others who feel the same way as I.

Leaky Shield
Following on from "Vulnerable", this was me being inspired to write my usual hopeful poetry, but this time from the perspective of one more flawed. While it's not been something I've avoided in the past, actively embracing the flaws while still retaining a message of hope felt much more honest to me. An approach I'd really like to develop further in future.

Dear Lord, Thank You, Amen
One of my real focuses this year was to write a bit more poetry inspired by my religion - it's a fairly core part of my philosophy after all. This also happened to be my favourite spoken word piece of the year, which makes it a lot sweeter. Being able to get this freedom with my writing and removing one of my oddest blocks should help me be open in future, and I'll be very happy to produce more poems like this one.

Visualising Eternity
A simple sweet poem, which tries to take a big and complex topic (infinity), and explain why the existence of infinity shouldn't put you off trying things, not matter how intimidating it feels. While this was written off the back of a religious discussion I was having (to which I still think it applies), I do think it applies to other settings too, and I don't think it looses anything for the applicability.

Take a second, and take notice
While this poem may be a little bit meta (the actual act of me writing was me following the advice), I feel this was a good poem to write. Often we need excuses to be thankful for things. One of the nice things about this blog is I can just write such things if the mood inspires me. I got a fair amount of positive reaction for this one, so it seems a lot of people agree with me on this.

The Compass and The Instructor
Following on from the aim of my second year, I really feel I've come on in my ability to write multiple different approaches on the same theme. I liked both of these poems, but I actually think together they make a better, more coherent piece. Not something I've done a lot of, but something I'd like to try more.

In a war
It may not seem like it, given how individual writing a poetry blog is, but I love when my work intertwines with others. Sometimes it is through collaboration, other times it's through retelling someone's story. This was one of the rare chances to do the latter. As much as I enjoy creativity and creation from scratch, this type of inspiration is very powerful to me and I chance I always relish - especially for what it can mean to the person I write for.

Grandma
Often, if I'm taking a long trip, I will print off some of my poems and try to edit them slightly. Do a bit of rewriting, cut out a line or two, etc. etc. This is one of the first times I've rewritten a poem thematically, to create something I see as completely new. I had performed the core part of the poem to my Grandma and I wanted to preserve that - it signified an experience we had been through, when I performed it to her. However, changing the rhyme scheme to add context at the beginning and end helped frame the poem well. It mirrors "In a War" well. If I want to be able to learn to tell other people's stories, then there can be no higher purpose for that skill than remembering those close to me. Rest in Peace, Grandma.

To write an epic
Often, I'm forced to sit and reflect on why I write. I wonder if I should put more effort into promoting my work, and try to reach the biggest audience possible. Even though I think people enjoy what I write (or at least they pretend to), I'm under no illusions as to the luck and effort required to push my work to the next stage. So I am instead learning to find the joy in the small things, and in the personal level poetry allows me to interact. I chat to a lot of artists who get annoyed at performing to small crowds. If I take a step back, I am amazed anyone at all would take time to read what I've written, let alone take something from it. If you create something, take pleasure in each person that enjoys it. It's something I need to remind myself to be grateful of, and a theme I will likely write to again.

Thank you, whether you've read one piece of mine or all of them. These poems contain many hours of my life and many aspects of my personality and philosophies. And a few stories of course. I hope you are able to take these fragments of my imagination, and use it to inspire something in yourself.

Top 10 of 2017

Stumbled across my blog? Wondering what to read. Well, here are the 10 poems I wrote that meant most to me in 2017, that I think you'll enjoy.

I just created something
Finally, I made a poem about creating poetry that I really liked. This one is fun to perform and, I think, fun to listen to as well. The aim is to connect with the listener, and that personal contact that exists makes it one I want to memorise and have on demand.

The secret about poetry
Following on, I was challenged by someone to make a poem for kids. Well, I interpreted that as writing as if I was getting to perform to kids. Intentionally keeping the language and rhymes 'simple' was fun, as was getting across this message.

Ledbury
This poem means a lot simply as the first proper religious poem I've written in a long time. The fact I got to perform it made it even sweeter. Given how important my faith is to me, being able to overcome that block and produce something meant a lot to me.

The Vow

While Ledbury was my first faith poem in a long time, this is my favourite one of this year. The only one where I got inspired, then actually took some time to hash it out and get it up to a standard I'm proud of.

Brave
Some people struggle in life. I'm glad I finally wrote something to demonstrate to them, if not that I can fully empathise, but that I realise what they do is difficult. I know this poem means a lot to some people close to me, so that means it means a lot to me, too.

Blessed with friends
On that note, this poem means a lot because I'm getting to talk about how much I value those close to me. I'm lucky with the friends I have, and sometimes I realise I don't put enough effort into these relationships. I'm weird in that I like meeting people occasionally, and find close relationships difficult. So this was to thank those that have stuck with me.

Did you not expect us
A lot of my poems tend to be positive. So having one which was trying to capture raw anger was certainly a challenge. Made after a chat with a friend, after trying to come up with a poem it would be good to film. Certainly something I want to do, some day.

The family trade
I like this one for the story it tells. I'm trying to get better at telling stories which are completely separate from me, and this was probably my best attempt at that this year. One I'll try to work on, but for now, I'm happy with this.

The books of war
If I ever perform this to you, I'll need five minutes. It has a really cool and unusual rhythm, which comes from the song the poem is named after. That makes it a lot of fun, but also a lot of work to do in a live setting. The challenge is good though, and I like how unique the poem feels to me.

Matter
Probably the poem that was in my head the longest. One of the toughest longform poems I did this year, and on a scale I'm not used to writing. Also an idea I was really happy to get out of my head. I'd tried to represent it in the poem before, but it didn't feel right. So it was good to just take another crack and get this one down.


Bonus: two more that meant a lot to me, but that no one else will enjoy because they were written with very specific people in mind.

The first among us
A poem written for my brother, performed at his wedding. It's hard for a poem to mean more than this. It's sad in one way - I really liked it, and I don't think I'll ever get to perform it again. But it was written for that moment, and I don't think I'd change it at all.

My best man speech
Being asked to be best man by my friend Joe was a special experience, and having the experience of performing at another wedding that year certainly helped. It was filmed for posterity, and I pretty much managed to not forget my lines. Almost.

Round 3 (and a list of 10 poems I wrote in 2014 which I don't mind you reading if you really want to)

So, a second year down, and I've pretty much kept up my 1 poem a week challenge (I missed one week due to travelling, so wrote 3 the next week). I've now got 100+ poems in this blog. Which is kind of unreal. I still get a little buzz from writing. I get an even bigger buzz if someone actually tells me they've read it. While that's the case I'm going to keep going, I guess. At this point it's not even a choice. It's habit.

So, with that said. If you would like to read something about what I do but reading a poem each week is a challenge (very understandable), find below a list of my favourite poems this year.

The one I most love to perform - Rising Up
This one is quite simple. What would it be like to fly to the edge of space? Find out here

The one least like a poem - The Gap in Conversation
Only very loosely related to the theme of space, this one is a lot more like a very short story than anything else. There's no rhyme, no rhythm. Just words.

The most personal - Dear Thomas, Cat
While I ended up writing a lot of close to the heart stuff, this was definitely the most personal. My Cat was diagnosed with 6 weeks to live around 10 months ago. Throughout this entire year I've not been sure if he'd be here the next week. If I've seemed down at any point it's probably because I've had this thing going on in the background of my life. Only written at the end of December, this definitely summed up a lot of my feelings on the issue.

The one people who like spoken word seem to like - Scars
Definitely a very personal one. I've actually made someone cry after performing this. At the content and not at the writing, I think.

The one which describes why I'm still going next year - Dancing
I'm not good at subtlety in metaphors.

The one with the most extended metaphors - Keep Working
I am, however, good at mixing metaphors.

The one people who like poetry seem to like - Honest Tears
Failed entry to a competition. I still like it.

The best dialogue - The Moon
I performed this one with my friend Dan Shipley, and it's just lots of fun. Particularly if they don't know what's coming.

The one which started off a big project - In Which A Prologue Is Presented
In August I made a pledge to write a whole story. That lead me to produce 4 stanzas on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week. It was difficult, and kinda fun to actually write something like a story, but I feel like it may have done better with a plan. Still a big moment in my year though to complete it.

The one which was most read - When It's Not Just The News
I wasn't going to include this one. However, it was by far my most read, and also the one I think helped the most people. It was made for the moment and feels dishonest to promote. However, as a reflection of the year, it was such a defining piece of writing that it'd also feel dishonest to leave it out. Written for many friends about one friend in particular. Read something else first.

Round 2: Next year (and 10 poems I liked writing)

Hello to anyone who's actually adventured this far.

It's been a phenomenal time, and many thanks to those of you that've actually been reading and enjoyed what I wrote. I'm always amazed every time someone's said they've read and enjoyed them. So even if you're only doing it to humour me, thank you :)

Next year, I'm going to be doing something slightly different. I'm still going to be writing a poem a week. The only difference is, this time each month I'm going to have a theme. And, with a one poem a month exception, each poem has to be (at least tenuously) related to that theme. While my writing has got better, I need to get better at being creative with the original idea. So that's what this is for.

Many thanks again, and if you want to find out what it is I've been up to, find a list of ones I liked this year to read. If you liked one then please do let me know. It really does mean a lot.

27: When Science Proposes to Art - Favourite Poem
I don't think there's anything I would do to this poem if I had the chance. I think it's the right length, and it captures my current thinking on why Science and Art are similar (but also different). As a poet/engineer I've had to think about this a lot. There's a lot of doctrine saying if you do this you can't do that. This was me saying that, aside from the whole 'you don't have to do what people tell you' thing, exactly why the two are alike. And why together they are even better.

10: The Beat - Favourite Rhythm/Wordplay
This is my favourite use of wordplay and rhythm. Every time I read this I perform it a different way. While others I love for their imagery and themes, this one I love because it's just so damn fun to say aloud. Go on, give it a go. Somehow it manages to get you comfortable at the right parts and then jarringly change it to make you unseated. I'd love to be able to write stuff with this sort of rhythm the whole time. And I haven't been able to write like this again since March. Ah well.

23: A Gentleman's Rhyming Duel - Favourite to Perform in Future
I can't remember why I thought of this one. But it's use of longer rhymes and the fact it fits with my natural performing style (I know I'm close to rapping anyway) means that it seems to fit very well in my speech. This is certainly one I'd love to perform at some point. Partially because I can do a silly voice. Well, mostly actually. But it's probably the funniest I've done and I reckon it'll get the best reactions.

46: You Are All - Favourite to have Performed
I started out doing poetry as performances. And the reactions of people is why I still do it. I thought up the first 2 lines, and knew this would be one I had to perform. As such, I had a long time (until the next open mic) to try to work out where the poem would go. And, after all that thought, I ended up writing something fairly thematically different (though keeping the main lines). I love the power of this one, and it's one of the ones I've managed to go back and re-write a couple times to improve.

29: Monsters - Favourite Lines
I actually remember strolling down the street when the first couple lines came to me. This happens occasionally, and a basically spent the rest of that trip repeating the lines (so I wouldn't forget them) and then expanding in a few ways on them to find where I wanted the poem to go. I can't remember what the alternatives were, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. It was also very fun to perform, as I did at my college poetry night (meaning it's one of the ones I've sort of got memorised).

13: Don't Look Down! (Up is Far More Interesting) - Favourite Written on the Spot
Written for a friend of mine (hi Aimeé!) this is actually one of my few science related poems. I pretty much wrote this one on the fly writing it as a facebook message (which is why it formated oddly) and then copied and pasted it straight into the blog. I find any poem I'm able to write in a sitting tends to fit together a lot better and finds it's naturally length more naturally. Not being able to edit is both a blessing and a curse though.

34: Roses - Favourite Shouted on the Spot
So, I was at work, and bored. I went for a walk to clear my head. Turns out near where I worked there was quite a nice forest trail. I ended up sitting on a bridge, and performing this one aloud on the spot. I then did so again. A few more times, and I thought I had it. I hurried back to work and typed it up as an email (poems look very different from code, and I kinda didn't want any work people to notice). It's probably the only non-rhyming one I'd ever be happy performing, though currently my only audience have been the trees. Ah well. Also, side note, the initials are a shout-out to a couple friend of mine, but I don't think they read this blog. But they would totally be the type I can imagine writing on trees. I did also have to kinda condense this down from the one I shouted, as I think I was going for a good few minutes before I noticed someone coming in the distance and got embarrassed.

5: The Nod - Favourite Non-Rhyming
I've always wanted to try branching into spoken word. Into just writing a paragraph so powerful it can be said aloud and still works. This is my best attempt at that (so far), though I'm still a little way off. The link actually goes through to a blog by a good friend of mine, where some more of my stuff my get linked to in future. He also managed to improve in a couple of ways the poem. This is why writing to a deadline is a bad idea, but I certainly couldn't have done this year without it.

48: Refuge - Favourite Message
This was originally written for an Oxfam poetry competition. Apparently it didn't fit the 'theme' they had in mind (though they were naturally very kind about it). This is about a very core belief of mine - that of charity. So I find it quite tough to write about, while giving it the respect it deserves. The fact I think I managed it here is why it's one of my favourites.

3: I Am But An Idea - Favourite Marker
The first poem I did where I was proud of it. It took a few attempts, but even though this one isn't as good as I'd like now, I still remember the satisfaction having written it, and thinking how much I liked it. A nice one to finish this post on. It really does show just how far I've come.

Thanks for reading. Really, I hope you liked it :)