On - Volume 2

Many years ago, a friend, who had discovered that I wrote poetry for my own enjoyment, challenged me to address a popular subject of his - in poetry. I told him, "Give me one word - any word - and I'll give you a couple of stanzas of poetry." (Quite appropriately, I did write one on "arrogance") What eventually happened was that, after some years of playing this game, I eventually decided to share my work publicly and published a collection of my poetry in "On - Volume 1" (1996) which was "on" many of the varied subjects about which I had quietly written (I wish I still had all the ones I threw away). Over the years, although I played with writing in many different formats, I had unconsciously developed one particular style in which I enjoyed writing most of all. In my latter days at school, I became enthralled with the skill employed in the iambic and trochaic structures utilised by William Shakespeare in his blank verse. Although I admired his work greatly, I preferred to vacate his blank verse style and employ the balancing cleverness of rhyme. It is with these overlapping influences, generally, that my poetric writing is most prolifically fashioned - but then, sometimes, I chose to stray. The poems in my first book had been assembled from years of sporadic writings in which there are moments where I had searched my innermost soul. Being a raw beginner, I had published this book in a beautifully lavish hard cover leather binding (and I also had some bound in buckram) which made the book economically infeasible in the market place. They now adorn my library shelves. (Do we call that "over-kill"?) Later, when I had some more material written, I decided to amalgamate my more recent material with that which was previously published and proceeded to publish "On - Volume 2" - this volume - however, in a far less ostentatious manner than previously. (I believed I had learned my lesson on "over-kill") I challenge anyone who ventures inside these pages, where I have, at times, bared my innermost feelings, to resist that nagging impulse which will, within them, threaten to thrust my words deeply into their own soul. "Who Dares - Wins" (Commando motto)