The Poetry Zone presents words of wisdom from poet, anthologist and punmaster... Graham Denton Hi, Graham. Tell us - when did you start writing? Like most people, I learned to write when I was at school. But it wasn't until many years later, after I'd left school, that I learned to express myself through the written word in a way that I wanted to. My first published piece of writing, though, was actually a football report in my primary school's yearbook. I've still got a copy of it! I always thought I'd be a football journalist when I grew up - what could be better than getting paid to watch and write about my favourite sport! - and I have had some football poems published, so I could perhaps say I achieved that ambition…well, kind of. Why do you write poetry? Because I'm too lazy to write novels! No, seriously, I've always enjoyed playing with words and having fun with language. Poetry is the best way I know of doing that. Having a poetic licence frees your imagination and allows it to go wherever it wants. Words are the wheels that carry your imagination along. More often than not, you have no idea in which direction you're steering, and/or words will lead you down a completely different path to the one on which you started out. That's what I love about poetry - there are millions of different ways to write about any one thing, millions of different directions to go. And every time you set out on a fresh poem it's like a whole new adventure into the unknown. Do you write anything other than poetry? I do spend a lot of time involved in the "business" side of being a poet - sending emails to fellow poets, to publishers, devising workshops, submitting proposals for books etc, etc. All those things require a lot of putting pen to paper or fingers on the keyboard. Any poet has to 'market' himself or herself, and it is quite time-consuming. Being a poet is not all about sitting daydreaming, you know - well, most of the time it is! I'm also an anthologist - someone who puts together collections of poems by other poets. Plus I run my own small poetry press, Hands Up Books, and those jobs also demand a lot of non-creative writing. Do you write for adults? Only the odd card to friends at Christmas. Writing for children is much more enjoyable. What was the first poem you had published? Well, around the age of 13 or 14, I sneakily put a poem of mine, titled 'The Walls of History', into my English exercise book alongside my proper homework. I had the hope that my teacher would see and like it. She did! I got a big tick and a nice comment beside it. I guess that was my first published poem, even though I published it myself. My teacher's thumbs-up gave me enormous encouragement, and I've never really forgotten that. What books have you written? Though I've yet to have a first collection of my own poems see the printer's ink, it is something I'm working towards. As an anthologist, my collections include 'Silly Superstitions' (Macmillan Children's Books), 'Wild! Rhymes that Roar' (Macmillan Children's Books), 'Orange Silver Sausage' (Walker Books), and most recently 'My Cat is in Love with the Goldfish' (A&C Black). Here's my title poem from that book: My Cat is in Love with the Goldfish My cat is in love with the goldfish. He's practically head over heels. He cannot hold back his emotions or mask the affection he feels. He'll bring her big bundles of roses. He'll give her these syrupy notes declaring undying devotion, embellished with cute little quotes. He'll pen the most passionate poems a pussy could possibly write, then sit by her bowl in the evening and promptly proceed to recite. He'll whisper such sickly sweet nothings whilst barely averting his gaze. He'll sing serenades in her honour whose verses are bursting with praise. Yes, my cat's so in love with the goldfish, yet the chances of romance are poor, for, alas, the attraction's one-sided… the fish loves the tabby next door. A collection of sports-themed poems, When Granny Won Olympic Gold (A&C Black), will be published in 2011 What's your favourite subject to write about? Anything and everything! That's the great thing about poetry: it allows you to express your deepest inner emotions, your strongest memories or your wildest thoughts, or to completely escape yourself and be anything you choose - you can give voice to a leaf, a cloud, an alien, absolutely anything that does or doesn't exist! There are no limits whatsoever. How long does it take to write a poem? Just as there are no limits about what you can write about, there are also no set rules about how long a poem can or should take. Often the shortest poem requires the hardest graft, and takes the longest time. I certainly find that to be true. One of my most published poems, 'Evening Shifts', took nearly 5 years to write. I wasn't working on it night and day, of course, just on and off over that 5-year period, but it was a real struggle to find just the right words I was looking for. But I got there in the end. Persistence is important and a key part of any poet's make-up. Evening Shifts As cloak-black clouds of evening drift across his torch-white eye, the moon begins his evening shift- Nightwatchman of the sky. How many poems have you written? I've never really counted. The simple answer is, a LOT! But definitely more bad ones than good ones. That's probably true for most poets, though. Sometimes you have to go through a long dark tunnel to reach the light. And if you ask any poet they'll probably agree that they write a lot of rubbish before they get to the stuff they want to keep. Are you writing anything at the moment? I'm always working on new poems, ideas for anthologies, potential books, etc. I like to spin quite a few plates at once. Crassssssssssssssshhh! Oops, I think I just dropped that one! Running Hands Up Books keeps me very busy, too. It's the one independent press in the UK that focuses solely on poetry for children (he says proudly). Through the press, I'll shortly be putting out a new collection of funny poems - 'Rock and Roll Elephants' by the Australian author Bill Condon - which is full of witty, rib-tickling rhymes. Quite a few of the Hands Up Books' collections I've published have been reviewed on the 'poetryzone' site by that very kind Mr Stevens. Do you have a special time to write? Two thirty on a Thursday afternoon is always good me. (or is that the time I always feel I need to go to the dentists? Two thirty…tooth hurty…geddit? No? Never mind.). To be honest, any day and every day is a good time to write poetry. You can't sit around and wait for inspiration to strike. It very rarely happens like that. Though of course it's nice if it does. You have to keep your antennae up and alert at all times. Having a notebook handy, or any scrap of paper for that matter, is an absolute must. Write down whatever catches your eye or ear, gets your heart pumping or your brain jumping, otherwise those things might be lost forever. Think poetry from the moment you wake up till the time you go to bed. And even when you're dreaming, poems may still arrive. I've certainly dreamed more than my fair share of poems. Usually I haven't been able to rouse myself to write them down. But once or twice I have. So every time can be a special time. There is poetry in everything, everywhere; you just have to open not only all your senses but also your heart to be able to see, feel, taste, touch and smell it. Do you visit schools? Occasionally, yes. The schools' experiences I've had have been really enjoyable and rewarding experiences. It's wonderful to have an audience of children who are receptive to the poems you're reading out. Being in a school is a valuable learning experience for a poet, too, because from the audience reaction (or not, as the case may be!) a poet can learn whether or not his/her poems are working, and where they might be improved. Children don't lie - if a poem is or isn't any good, you'll know it! Do you travel around very much? I cover a lot of distance in my head. I must clock up at least a thousand miles a day. Taking huge leaps of the imagination is the cheapest, safest and easily the most exhilarating way to travel. And you can do it standing perfectly still or lying down! Which is the best/ most unusual school that you've visited? I once went to Hogwarts. It was a magical experience. We did a workshop of "wizardy". The kids produced some spellbinding stuff. Who are your favourite other poets? The list is far too long! I've been fortunate to have had my heartstrings tugged and my funny bone tickled by many poets. It would be truly impossible to single out any one. I've always had a leaning towards light-hearted verse, and one of my all-time poetry heroes was an American writer and anthologist named William Cole. Some of the poems he wrote and the collections of funny verse he gathered are definitely among my very favourites. Have you been on the TV or radio? I hope there's still some archive ITV footage from the 1970s of me standing behind the goal net at Hull City's old Boothferry Park ground when the "goal of the season" for that year was scored in a game against Sunderland by Hull's City John Hawley. I distinctly remember seeing myself on the highlights show at the time jumping up and down. I was once in a short film that appeared on Channel 4 - acting, not as myself. And I have had some of my songs played on local radio stations (Did I mention I was a songwriter, too?). But in my capacity as a poet… no! Though I'm sure I once saw my photofit on an episode of RHYMEWATCH UK! What's your favourite reading book? Not just one book but a series of books. I've long been an avid collector and reader of books of the "Peanuts" comic strip, written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran daily in the US for nearly 50 years. So you can imagine how many books there are! I've got over a hundred sitting on my shelves, and still have many more to add to my collection. All of them have given me immense pleasure and I never tire of reading them over again. Of all the poems you've written, which is your favourite? A poem of mine of which I'm especially fond is a very short poem called 'What's a Caterpillar?' What's a Caterpillar? Little but a fly in waiting. Have you any poems coming out in the near future? I've got poems in several recent books: 'Switching on the Moon: A Very First Book of Bedtime Poems' Compiled by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters (Walker Books), 'The World at Our Feet: Football Poems' Chosen by Paul Cookson (Macmillan Children's Books) and 'A Million Brilliant Poems (Part One)' edited by Roger Stevens (A&C Black). Plus another in an anthology of wildlife poems selected by Celia Warren, which is due out soon. It's always a real thrill to have any poem selected by an editor. If nothing else, it means that there's at least one person in the world who rates and appreciates what you're doing! Did you enjoy school? To be honest, I like it a lot better these days! Have you any pets? Just the one: a panther-black pussycat called Treacle. What football team do you support? There's only one team for me - the mighty Aston Villa. I've supported them for over 35 years (mostly from my armchair and with help from various transistor radios, it has to be said), and enjoyed many happy moments during that time. The unhappy ones - of which there have also been plenty - I've just blotted out! How do you spend your spare time? Spare time... what's that? No, if and when I have any, I like to do all sorts of fun and interesting things - spend time with my family, follow Aston Villa (of course), go jogging, play guitar, watch movies, eat, read lots and lots of poetry, to name but a few. In my experience, most poets are not the sorts who go in for extreme sports (hey, there's a rhyme there); they're sensitive souls who enjoy gentle pursuits mostly. I'm definitely like that. Writing a poem is as dangerous as it gets for me! What did you do before becoming a poet? In the main I've made a very successful career of avoiding a very successful career. I was once a fortune-teller, but I really couldn't see any future in it. Truth be told, the only thing I really wanted to do with my life was write. I have had a whole host of other jobs but they were mostly just temporary, filling in until the time I could finally call myself a "poet". Which, I'm happy to say, is what I do call myself now. I occasionally call myself a lot of other things but that's usually when I'm frustrated at not being able to finish a poem (and they're not repeatable on a nice website like this!). Have you any plans for the future? To get as old as I can, and write and anthologise as many poems and books as possible. Another great thing about being a poet is that there is no retirement age; you can carry on scribbling (I said scribbling, not dribbling) for as long as you want or are able to. And you never have to renew that poetic license! Do you have a web page? There's a website for my small press, Hands Up Books (www.handsupbooks.co.uk) but it's very much in need of some spring cleaning. Another job to add to my "must do" list! What advice would you give to young poets? The main advice, which I give to anyone who asks (adult or child), is to read, read and re-read as much poetry as possible. Reading always comes first, before the writing. Find out what types of poem there are, the variety of verse forms, subjects, moods etc. And what most appeals to you. And then try writing, perhaps even imitating those. There's nothing wrong with that. As I've already said, everyone has to write a lot of bad poems before he/she reaches a level that can be considered "good". Eventually you'll find your own voice, and maybe one day you too will feel confident enough to be able to call yourself a "poet". Here's to that! Thanks, Graham.