No desk, or office as such, I tend to write my poems on the hoof. They are often written in a rush while on the underground along the stretch of Metroland from King's Cross to Uxbridge, in the bedroom at night or while in a cafe. I prefer this write-wherever-whenever approach because it connects me to my first joys of writing verse when I would write purely to communicate with something innate in me and without any vanity for praise and recognition. I would hate my writing to feel like a day job, something that can only be “properly” done at a desk.
The closest I have to an office is the kitchen-dining room table where I can look out on to the garden and watch chubby pigeons on the decking or squirrels on the fence in my family home in Harrow. If I ever have a spare day, I will walk my daughters to school and work until the end of the school day when I pick them up.
I never trust a poem until I’ve had at least a few tiffs with it
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