I may be close to my 620th poem in three years but I don’t consider myself a poet.  I would prefer to be thought of as a writer who dabbles in verse.

Whilst this year was in it’s infancy I had three short stories, a monologue and a poem entered in competitions.  I made a vague promise to myself that I would cut back to no more than two poems per week.  Storytelling I decided, was to take precedence. 

It’s not yet the end of February and I’ve already written 26 poems this year.  Before I’m judged too harshly please consider the content of my verse.  Since January alone there has been; medieval conflict (a series of 7), vengeance of a marooned sailor, assassins, New York, romance and a couple of collaborations about passion. 

The thing I do enjoy about poetry is that I can relate a story idea rapidly and the thought process used in rhyming actually forces me to work harder with the plot.  Why is that a good thing?  For the main part because it is a simple framework to expand later into a short story.  My latest theory is to try to open with action, as I would with a conventional piece of prose.