Kate Williams First question - Why do you like writing poems? I find it a handy way to focus in on something and sort out my ideas about it, and the more I stop and think, the more I discover! Take mayflies - pointless-seeming little insects that flutter about for a few hours then fizzle out. What on earth could anyone ever write about those? I thought once. Then I realised the briefness of their lives made them special, and that they deserved a brief poem to match, and by the time I'd concocted this little couplet, I'd grown quite intrigued with these tiny, frail signals of summer: Life Sentence A mayfly may fly for one May day How do you write your poems? In my head to start with, which can be a little tricky, as I tend to walk along at the same time. It's no easy task to think up a rhyme and avoid a lamppost at the same time, you know! And even harder to keep the rhyme locked away in your head instead of reciting it to the shop assistant when you stop to buy a paper. So as soon as I can, I find a corner of time, and a corner of paper, and scribble it down for later. Mind you, by the time 'later' comes, I usually have all manner of other rhymes in my head to contend with too, not to mention rhythms, images, twists and so on, and I just have to shut myself away and sort them all out, mixing and matching and mulling them all over until I get the sort of poem I wanted. Hard, but hypnotic once you start! What do you write about? Anything. But how I write depends a lot on my mood. Sometimes I want to write about the funny side of life; other times it's the mystery or the thrill of something that grabs me. I like experimenting too. Who can say a poem should be like this or like that? Why not a new way? Do you have any books published? Yes, my latest is Wildlife Poems, which you can find out about via my website's New Book page (the address is at the bottom of the interview): Here are a couple of poems from the book: Dance of the Penguins Step hop waddle stop blink scratch think Step hop wobble skid dash splash sink Polar Pyjamas Pillow-puffy, cushion-fluffy, the dozy cubs twitch sleepy feet, cosy, cuddly, snuggly and nice between blanket and sheet of snow and ice. I also have many poems in anthologies, produced by publishers such as Macmillan, A & C Black, Oxford University Press and Scholastic. If you're a child reading this, you may find my poem 'Break Time' in your classroom at some point, as it is going to be used in schools to help children make friends and look after each other. Perhaps you'd like to write a poem about that too. If you're reading this in Australia, you might have come across some of my poems in The School Magazine. This is one of them. What are Families For? For giving, for caring, for lending and sharing, for pass-me-down-wearing, families are for. For telling, for hearing, for clapping and cheering - and sometimes oh-dearing! That's what they're for. For pulling together, come fair or foul weather. Yes, that's what they're for - and more! Do you go into schools? Yes, about 1,000 since my first poetry workshop ten years ago. Now that my car's fitted with SatNav, I hope to be finding my way to even more! Schools are warm, welcoming places, aren't they, once you're safe inside! It's Finding them, that's been the challenge for me. I've probably done more miles school-hunting than an astronaut going to the moon - well, it feels like that anyway. I usually end up shouting desperately to a passer-by for help... and then wishing I hadn't. Here are some of the answers they've given me through the years: "Turn right, then left, then left, then right, then right round the roundabout ... or is it the other way round?" "You know the building that was knocked down? No? Well, the school is where that was." And most off-putting of all - "You're in the wrong valley!" Even when I find the school, I can't always find the main entrance. Once I turned up in the kitchen and had to dodge a dish of hot gravy. Another time I got in through a back door via a vegetable patch, and found myself trailing mud across the assembly hall. Pity the entire school were filing in just then. But once in the classroom with a bunch of young poets (all children have it in them to be poetic), I love every minute, and I think they do too. Do the children write good poetry in your school workshops? Yes, kids are amazing writers. They come up with poetic gems I never could have thought up in all my adult life. By the way, I welcome poems from all young writers and provide a window for them on my website's Young Writers page. But a word of warning before you scoop up an attic- full and cart them off to me in a removal van - I receive so many offerings that I have to swap them in and out every few weeks, and sometimes I just feature a verse or snippet too, to prevent the window becoming a wilderness. But the contributions are always wonderful! There's lots of other stuff on my website too, so do call round sometime! My address is: poemsforfun.wordpress.com Great to meet you Kate - and good luck with future books. Bye for now. Thanks. And goodbye. Go back to top of page