Spotlight On Writers
Mike Bell
@MikeBellWrites
- Where, do you hail from?
- What is the greatest thing about the place you call home?
Being a small town it provides me with a wealth of subjects and a broad range of friendships: strangers talk here too – I often get comments about my poetry from random passer-bys.
- What turns you on creatively?
- What is your favorite word, and can you use it in a poetic sentence?
About aged seven I came across the word ‘concentric’ in an old encyclopedia, my own discovery, an enthrallment. This is the usage of it in my work:
Excerpt from ‘The Mower’
He has cut the grass around Stonehengefor twenty summers, end-to-end, ever concentric, from outer to inner, he pulls out blades with the retreat of winter.
Excerpt from ’F5’
My search was inherited, in spine-bust encyclopaedias: I learnt the word ‘concentric’, and skipped the Roman Empire.
Excerpt from ‘Measured’
I was taught to spot the imperfect years by measuring, with eye and finger the varied distances, the thicknesses of those concentric, almost-whirled, bark-marked lines in the bared-ankles of cut trunks:
Dendrochronology.
Excerpt from ‘Pub, 7pm’
Stood tall-table straight, with concentric rings, beer becomes central, at last order’s rings.
Been caught out – guilty of repetition!
- What is your pet peeve?
Litter.
- What defines Mike Bell?
Not my broader being, not my disease, although poetry is my daily ritual to offset dementia risks, not my poetry: perhaps defined by my ability to shift in work and life, trading on my restlessness.
It is not what I am paid to do
It requires a daily commitment
I cannot complete a crossword, but I will attempt to complete verse complexities
My children will need something to fill the vacuum we all create
These words help me to cry out, cry, and work out why
If I make someone respond, then I will have lived a life worthy of a life.
- The Mass Of Men - October 14, 2017
- Belief - August 30, 2017
- Spotlight On Writers – Mike Bell - August 19, 2017
