I am a poet, graphic artist, psychotherapist and seeker.
Not necessarily in that order.
As a child I loved creating and desiging cards using letters and fonts but never gave this any serious consideration. After completing an English and Philosophy degree at Manchester Polytechnic, my interest in playing with type was rekindled and I went to London College of Printing to explore typography and book design. After various jobs working with children and young people, I landed a job in publishing working as a children’s book designer. Over time, I was most fortunate to have an inspiring Art Director who sent me on metal letterpress course, with the designer and typographer Alan Kitchen. His studio was an Aladins cave of delight. Here, handling individually carved fonts, I learnt to deepen my appreciation and love of type as an aesthetic.
In the late eighties, the books of Carlos Castaneda somehow landed in my life, opening up questions that the western world could not answer. The Seeker part of my soul was galvanised into action and since then I have been exploring and experiencing alternative world views, customs and beliefs.
I found my inner poet, somewhere in the mists of 1998, writing morning pages for the The Artists Way. I didn’t know the poems were there until I read back. They were rudimentary but they were definitely bones of poems. A couple of years later I had a daughter (2000) and in my newfound position of endless nights in… started to play with the type.
I retrained as a therapist in my late thirties, gathering in seeds that had been sown along the way; from working in community and the range of personal development that has stalked much of my life – including reading, traveling, shamanism and personal therapy. I am currently engaged in an incredible and humbling programme learning and experiencing the Nature Wisdom practices of the Q’ero Indians of Peru. Still seeking, I am fascinated in the human condition and understanding and deepening my relationship with the earth we live on and the Cosmos we live in.
Sometime during the Pandemic I recognised that it was time to ‘do’ something with my poetry – like share it! Launching the website opened me up to the world of spoken word and appreciating the value of speaking and hearing other poets.