"He writes of not of the heart, but of the glands"

It is with a strange reluctance that I sent off for the Academi Cardiff Poetry Competition 2009. I sent off Citizen Ken and Shepherd of the Landes.

It is hard to remember writing them, how I felt when they were finished. My two favourite pieces that i have written. They were both outcomes of my ability to have a clear vision in my mind and write about it straight, with a clarity that, I feel, doesn't deserve much post-editing.

I haven't had that ease of writing for a while. Like Faulkner says, I am writing from the glands, the idea that I should be producing poetry because, I believe, I am a poet. But the need, the want and the drive are not necessarily present all the time. I need a little more heart these days.