ABOUT THE POEMS

Most of these were composed between Pennsic of 1992 and Pennsic of 1994. During that time I was in a rather unusual affaire de convenience (though it seemed quite the opposite!) with a certain Midrealm bard. He existed, and very occasionally kept me warm. I drained the relationship to the last ounce and wrote volumes of letters and poetry. Most of it was out of period and I see no reason to display it here, but some of it was structured and really not too bad for what it was. Unfortunately, our affair caused a bit of a scandal - or at least, was exacerbated by an even worse scandal involving a mutual friend of ours, who eventually became the man's wife - and so I had to keep my poetry under lock and key.

It's been a while. Some of these verses are almost a decade old. I'm tired of hiding them.

I am in the process of posting my other structured poetry also. This includes some of my very early work, pieces of Japonisme penned to my first girlfriend, Lady Kestrel of Arren. More is to come.

Rhymed Juvenilia (1985 - 1989)

Poems to Kestrel of Arren (1989 - 1990)

Poems to Ironhawk (1992 - 1994)

Miscellaneous period poems (1993 - 2001)

Miscellaneous out of period poems - rhymed but not medieval

Miscellaneous out of period poems - historical, but not structured

Sources of inspiration

Some gentles have asked me how I come up with my writings. Obviously, many of my poems are inspired by romantic relationships, but there's more that goes into writing a poem than just passion. To those who would explore their own writing talent, I offer this advice: Read. Read like a manaic. Your voice will be shaped not just by your unique perspective, but also by your tastes and your preferences in literature. Writing does not exist in a vacuum. There are a few geniuses out there who hardly paid attention at all to the writing of other people - Rimbaud comes to mind - but this is not the norm. In general, good writers are also good readers.

Don't worry if your work seems overly derivative. Part of finding your voice is trying on the voices of other people for size. Keep practicing, and eventually, your own unique voice will show. Somewhere in between writing homages to other poets and screaming out your own ideas and thinking "this is so amateur!" you'll eventually discover that you really do like what you have to say, after all.

Don't discount the influence of pop culture, the world around you, and life itself. A writer must be an observer, and react to those observations. Whether you are of the "Gonzo reporting" school, or the "navel-gazing introspection" school, or somewhere in between, be sure to always observe.

For the record, if you are curious, here are the things that have shaped my writing so far. (Try not to laugh.)

1) Other poets. John Donne, Sappho, Catullus, Virgil, Marcabru, Jaufre Rudel, Beatritz Countess of Die, Pierre Vidal, Arnaut Daniel, Francois Villon, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Swinburne, William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Thomas Wyatt, Baudelaire, William Shakespeare, Rainer Maria Rilke, Galway Kinnell, Theodore Roethke, Wilfred Owen, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, George Herbert. That's right, not all of these authors are from the middle ages and Renaissance!

2) Other writers who weren't poets, but who made me react strongly to what they'd written...strongly enough to keep replying. Neil Gaiman, Sade, Anne Rice, William Safire, William F. Buckley, Stephen Crane, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Donna Tartt, Evelyn Waugh, Mary Renault, Seneca, Edith Hamilton, Pauline Reage, Richard Adams, William Golding. What can I say. I get around.

3) Music. Lyrics by Jethro Tull and Steeleye Span (yes, really); instrumentals by Wagner, Beethoven, Mozart, Rimsky-Korsakov, Philip Glass; musicals.