My guest today is Darren J Beaney who is another poet published by the awesome The Hedgehog Poetry Press. Congratulations, Darren, on the release of your brand new collection Honey Dew.
Darren has come along today to chat about his writing, including Honey Dew. Without further ado, it’s over to Darren J Beaney.
My Writing Story
Darren J Beaney
I started writing (and reading) poetry in the mid 1990’s. I was having some mental health and substance abuse issues and writing down my thoughts and feelings helped me to slowly sort myself out. Starting the MA in Creative Writing in 2018 really helped me to focus on how to improve my writing – as I shared my words with others for the first time. Having a number of critical friends really helps. As part of the MA, I took a module entitled Poetry, Theory and Practice and the assignment forms the bulk of my debut collection – Honey Dew – published by the Hedgehog Poetry Press (14th December 2020). Copies in print and pdf format can be purchased from my website.
Honey Dew is a collection of 21 love poems with a mix of themes – the story of my early relationship with Jo, my lovely wife, and the ways in which I try to express my feelings toward her. Trying to describe my writing is one of the hardest things I have tried to do, a lot of what I write doesn’t get shared! There are poems I have written that I really like, but when I read them out I just think “what the *&@% was that all about – I obviously took to much acid years ago…” I asked my MA buddy, critical friend and fellow Dragonfly, Barbara to help me describe my writing and this is what she said:
“Poetry that has a unique, sideways perspective and is rich in surreal imagery. It often tries to do something different with language and can sometimes rewrite what is expected of poetry. It can be entertaining.“
I read poetry most days and try to write as often as I can. I am currently trying to find a home for the anthology written for my MA dissertation. It was originally titled What’s Love Got To Do With It, but now after even more editing and the inclusion of more poems it has a new working title – The Machinery Of Human Life. With a bit of luck, a publisher will take a chance on it and maybe Patricia can ask me back to talk about it!
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Thank you for sharing your writing story with my readers, Darren, and yes, definitely come back to Patricia’s Pen once The Machinery of Human Life is ready to enter the world.
See below for a taster of Honey Dew with Surfin’ girl, one of the poems included in the collection.
Surfin’ girl
The blue haired girl once surfed through the park,
secure in her fashion. Floodlit eyes
shining on improbable catwalks,
parading her tone. Inflating the hearts
of those she invited to climb on her board.
Rinsing aqua to blond, nothing dumb
in that, her glow radiated
like polished platinum, leaving
an iridescent trail so precious
that he followed adventurous,
trekking. His quest to collect all her smiles.
Then au natural, stunning brunette
radiant like her eyes that sparkled
brighter with each tide. Rousing, she added
to the understanding of many, multiplying
knowledge, explained the value of π,
leaving memories that cannot be taken away.
Now with a few hairs of grey she leads
as a mother. Inspiring! Her love
is uncomplicated with no rules
and she cares. Her love is like oceans,
her affection forever gently lapping against our shores.
In years still to come she may be white
like teachers’ chalk. She may change colour
again to mask the signs of passing years.
But she will never disguise what is inside,
she will always ride the waves like
the blue haired girl.
Wow. I’m sure you’ll agree that this is going to be a fantastic collection with those wonderful images and sound echoes.
Purchase a signed copy of Honey Dew from Darren’s website here.
About Darren J Beaney
Darren J Beaney has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Brighton. He is part of a collective that host a word night in Brighton – Flight of the Dragonfly. He is a hopeless romantic! He cuts his own hair. He enjoys music, predominantly punk rock. His favourite author is Orwell. He loves Marmite. He lives near the West Sussex coast, with his family, their rescue cats, rescue dog and furry hamster. He has had poems published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press, Indigo Dreams Publishing, Parthian Books, Dempsey & Windle, Poetry NI, The Four Parts Press and The Angry Manifesto. He was a finalist in the Write Bloody UK 2020 full collection competition.
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Patricia M Osborne 