Gordon Fjaelberg
Wales

E-mail Address: stentor@hotmail.co.uk
Please include the word 'POETRY' in the subject line of any email you send.

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Why write poetry, Poet?

Purely for the love of it, and no other reason! Good poetry will sum up, in a few words, moods and emotions that stir the reader in a way prose cannot hope to emulate. I enjoy the free-flowing style of poetry, and the fact that a wide variety of subjects can be tackled in a wide variety of ways. It has also helped to get me out of doing the washing up: "Love to, but must catch the mood!" Not that this works every time, but when it does....Doesn't work with shopping trips, I've noticed.

How did you get started writing poetry?

My father also wrote poetry, though mainly in the form of hymns and religious tracts. My secular interest was sparked at school, where I had the good fortune to have an excellent English teacher. He never laughed at my putative efforts, at least not in front of me, and encouraged me to read different poets. He explained how to develop my ideas, however ridiculous they might sound, and told me that it was sometimes OK to bin a project, and start again. This was AFTER I'd shown him a poem I'd written about St.George, which must have run to 9 million verses at least.

Who are your influences?

I'm a great lover of John Betjamen, always have been, though nonsense verse has a particular appeal to me. Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll and Spike Milligan were eagerly devoured at school, though I love the work of Robert Burns. How that man could capture a mood! Also, it must be said, the 'poems' of the late, great, William McGonagall. He only came to me later in life, which is just as well; he and Tracy Emin, between them, have showed the world how far you can get without a single shred of talent. So has Tracy Emin's brother, Eminem.

What is your favourite poetic verse?

I wish I knew the name of it, but I don't. Many years ago, when I was a member of a writer's group, one of the guys wrote a poem about a reluctant cricketer, who'd only gone to the Cricket Club, on the day of a Championship match, to help with the teas. One of the batsmen hadn't turned up, so the Captain rounded on him, and forced him to take part. As I recall, our reluctant hero scored one run before getting clean bowled, (just before tea!), but took solace in the fact that his team won a nail-biting contest by a single run, which he claimed was his. The opening lines begin thus:

"I hadn't meant to play cricket,
I hadn't intended to bat,
But the Captain said: 'You're Number Five!'
So that was that, was that!"

Sorry! What was the question again?

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Examples of poetry.
A Brick-bound Biddie's Lament   Always Questions   Anescienta   An Ode To Allergies   An Ode To Red Arthur   An Ode To Susannah LeMotte   An Open Letter To The White House   Artefact   Dafydd   Far Away   For Only Thee   Has Anyone Seen My Car?   How I Long For Morning   How To Exterminate Parasites!   If Your Girl-Friend Joins The Army   I Knew I'd Be A Deputy   In Memoria   Innermost Thoughts   Lines Written On Leaving Fife   Look Out, Marco Polo!   Makkanwns!   Mermaid Song   Mixed Thoughts On Re-incarnation   Night Visitors   Ode To A.C.A.S.   Ode To Ashby Book-Shop   Ode To Beer   Ode To Christmas Dinners!   Ode To Security Officers   Ode To The Dull   Ode To The Loch Ness Monster	Ode To The Robin   Ode To Trainee Computer Programmers   Oh, For a Stronger Table   Oh, Mummy!   Oh, The Pain!   On Being Shot At Dawn   On Seeing A Grave-Stone   Pass The Food Around   Princess   Reflections On A Sloth   Scraping By!   Si Vous Ete Le Reigne   Surfaces!   The Ballad Of A.D.S   The Ballad Of Thomas Kerry   The Banderloop   The Civil Wars   The Darkened Room   The Finest Things   The Frustrated Hunter   The Gongermeezind   The Jetty's Edge   The Kipper Song   The Number One Bus   The Party Piece   The Shortest Poem In The World   Thirty Feet   Uriel River   Vacational Cogitations   Vortigern: Part 1   What Kind Of Man....?
Examples of songs.
Anti-World!   Appearing Tonight   Cares Of The Day   Elemental Symphony; Part 1, Air   Elemental Symphony; Part 2, Fire   Elemental Symphony; Part 3, Earth   Elemental Symphony; Part 4, Water   Everything   Existence   Francesca   Geronimo Is Dead!   Going Up To Edinburgh   Grey   In Our Day   It Happened Only Yesterday   It's Got So Bad   It's Hard To Be A Bishop   Jerephath Of Aragathorn   Join Us In A Cup Of Tea   Leaving You Now   Living For Now   Lunatics and Losers	Magic Castles   Mud In Your Eye   My Sweet Elaine   Neil Wylie   No More The Night   Norma Allan   Ode To Damart   Safety First   Some Days   Straw Taxi Cabs   Tabitha's Daughter   The Piper Must Be Paid   Thermania   This Could Be Your Way   Those Hits Keep Rolling In   Ugg and Freda   Variations On A Dream   When My Father Went A-Hunting!   Where Is The Woman Who Loves Me?   Where Nine Worlds Blend   Where The Wild Waters Flow   Wish You Were Here   X-Ray