About Luke
I have been in love with our Language ever since I can remember, but avoided writing poetry in my teens because I was too busy raving, getting smashed and trying to get laid. It took a degree in English Literature with Creative Writing & Performance to kick-start my poetry, but there it stayed in that three-year box while I pursued a Master’s in Ethnomusicology (music + anthropology) at SOAS, London, my particular interest being sub-Saharan Africa. In writing about music – as well as performing it – I had married my two great loves of the time.
Poetry forced its way back into my life at twenty-seven, when I buckled under immense amounts of pressure I put upon my shoulders and had a complete breakdown. Feeling utterly burnt-out and useless, composing poems in my head was about the only thing I could do. Even prose was too lengthy and involving. As I age, poetry becomes ever-more important to me as a mode of self-expression.
When not writing or making music, I tend to recycle, talk a lot, waste far too much time on the internet, and try to force my laptop to do things it isn’t entirely comfortable with.
I am thirty-four and live in rural England with a Mac, a guitar or two, a silent fridge and a brain that won’t switch off.
They say a picture paints a thousand words; I’d argue the opposite.
☆
Inventor of the Octain (Octain Refrain), December 2010, of which well over a hundred have been written as of late May 2011 (five by me), mostly on the very busy Facebook, Blogosphere and Twitter poetry scenes (also on AllPoetry.com where it is listed as a form along with my others, below).
Inventor also of the Stress Matrix Dectet (Stress Checkerboard Stanza), and the Stress Matrix Sonnet (Stress Checkerboard Sonnet), both in January 2011. Several of these have been written, despite being extremely demanding forms technically.
Guest-tutor of Form Poetry at the erstwhile Shorty Award-Winning Networking Poet Bloggers’ Site One Stop Poetry, including teaching the Octain. Links to the interview/articles/classes are here and here. Was also a tutor/admin of Crit/Craft of Poetry on high-profile splinter site, d’Verse Poets’ Pub.
Founder of Poetry Crit/Discussion Group Facial Expression Poetry Circle. One of four resident poets at The Arts Connection. Work can be seen in several places online and in hardcopy.
Thank you for visiting WordSalad – your interest/support is valued immensely.
words in my head are dead
words in the air
they dare
the explosion of sparks
that make a flame
and make blame
perhaps shame.
But I’m game
Roaaaaaaaaaar!
Err… thanks? I think. Ya nutter
Luke. We had the same trip, The Raves turned into years of raving, roaming, sleeping on the beach. When i reached 25 I wasn’t a drifter anymore i had become crusty and crazy :) I also avoided poetry, just because i thought my head would explode if i got to know myself. Poetry is dangerous for those who are afraid of what’s inside them. I also think words paint better than pictures. I should know i do both, sometimes my paintings fail me as words never do.
Cat :)
:) I am happy you have a brain that is “special” and knows it. :) Have fun with everything you do. Take it on with a smile. It works out better that way. lol :) Hope you are having an awesome summer. Keep it going strong. :)
Cheers Doraz… I’ll do my best
Hi Luke, thanks for stopping by my blog today. I’m glad you did and liked it. I see you’re into poetry too. I like what I see here, although you’re streets ahead of me in that you have formal training in poetry. I don’t know the difference between an ode and a sonnet! I only started writing poetry a few months ago and just go with what ‘feels’ right – which I guess you’d call ‘unstructured’. At the moment I have writer’s block for the first time, hence today’s offering… Take care.
Thanks adeeyoyo – I write in all styles (or try anyway hehe)… some structured, some not. I guess just recently I’ve posted quite a bit of structured stuff
Boy can I relate. My breakdown(s) is what propels me to write, in my case both prose and poetry. We have a lot in common. I love my Mac, write, talk a lot, also waste too much time online, and my brain functions at warp speed (which keeps me from sleeping nites) lol! Glad I found your site.
Nice to meet kindred spirits, frayededges
The short story after your reading your first post: poem on …
We all come to it by a different path …Glad to have found you, Luke.
You too, my friend
Thanks Luke for stopping by. We live in suburban Florida with a Mac and two cats. :)
Like the name WORDSALAD a lot! So creative with all your poems, exploring one style at a time, but the highlight of your blog is this page about yourself.. So quirky, random, cryptic and downright interesting!
Came here from Jingle, honor to be on the same roll as people like you.
Rachana.
Cheers, Rachana. Nice to meet you
Hey I like the photo change! You’re smiling in this one.
First photo since forever, I think… a genuine smile. Wow. Cheers
:) i came here at first to read your posts – the ones you linked on my blog earlier…and for the first time i got lost inside another person’s blog :) by lost i mean that i kept clicking on this and that (not your poem “this and that” :) ) until at some point i realized that i had forgotten my initial purpose here :) so now i’m going to actually read those posts and tell you my impression on those,…but the first impression on the blog itself is “awesome” :)
Hey wow thanks Liliana. Praise indeed. Nice to meet you
“They say a picture paints a thousand words” I like the words that your face from the picture paints … Greetings to England/ which I completely adore/ from Greece! You have a playful style … playful way of saying things! I like that!
Thanks! Nice to meet you. Greetings to Greece
Hi Luke, Thanks for you kind words about my love poem (the one about hiding the bodies). I’ll also mention that I liked your rondeau poems. And I preferred the triolet, I tend to like the impact of very short pieces. Or, maybe that’s just a reflection of my attention span…. Anyway, I very much appreciate the complement, especially considering your writing skill. Cheers!
Back atcha!
hi luke – you for sure painted a picture with your words – a quite colorful one – thanks for this!
…i live in a house with a mac, a guitar, a piano, an alto sax plus husband and three teenagers…
I was 27 when things started to fall apart…A speeding train with no brakes…poetry came back in my life at that time. My writing was the way I survived…because I sure wasn’t living
uncanny… almost exactly the same as me…
I planned it that way. (insert horrifying scary stalker movie music here)
You planned life to fall apart at 27?
um…you missed my attempt at humour…scary stalker humour…but still humour…is it redundant if I type the word humour again?
Got the Mac. Got the brain that won’t shut off. Dig the Villanelles. Great Scott, there ARE others out there!
We’re too similar! Nice to meet you
Luke, seems you have quite a few things going. Email me a brief PR if you’d like … 1-2 paragraphs and I’ll work it into my next Sunday Rally Dispatch …
http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/2010/11/sunday-rally-dispatch-11212010.html
Luke, Fascinating Bio, You are very brave and honest to reveal such personal details. I find it admirable. I must say music and anthropology = Ethnomusicology is quite new to me. Formally, I studied Psyche, but am fascinated about many areas of anthropology. I enjoyed your personal story, Thank You!
Sammy Sutton
Luke
just dropping by to confirm your new site is properly linked from my blog…congrats on the new domain…
Annie
Also confirming your new site and rock on my friend!!! Love your Bio…it resonates my friend oxo
Thanks Sammy, Annie & Amanda
Hey, thanks for your comments on ‘nigger, whore, bitch.’ Highly appreciated, needed to have sticking my finger in the wound recognised somehow.
You have a great blog you know, and you”re an excellent writter. Very brave, very sure, clean, clear sound.
I may come through your discussion board.
Thanks Kenny, appreciate that. Great piece of writing, yours. Sure hit the discussion board if you want that kind of environment for feedback. It’s a good vibe but an open and honest one!
Cheers mate
Luke I just read your Bio…very impressive..except for the break down. I look forward to reading your poetry. And I to love music, sing at piano bars and cabaret shows. Thank you.
Luke-you awesome:) Great blog,wonderful variety and so many different pieces to pour over and delight in!! Thank you for inviting me, and as for the break,it happened,and clearly you came back stronger and much more grounded,i know what that takes, my hat is off to you, you rock!
So I have meandered for a bit and determined…yes I like your salad. <3 ~ Rose
thanks Elise, Sheena and Rose. Dig your words also Rose, just checked out your stream of consciousness piece again (the one up for OSW), but with the audio on this time. Real good stuff. Great to have met you, hope we cross paths in the future
Oh, how I wish you had your email enabled! It would have saved me a lot of ‘legwork’ around the pathways of Blogland, to be able to ‘talk to you’ here! I’ve been going to a creative writing class, but am a fish out of water, as all bar one of my classmates want to write novels. I have an overpowering interest in poetic form, but not enough encouragement comes from the tutor. You are a little like a light shining in my darkness! :)
You could always beam straight to pennysmith5@btinternet.com …
thank ye, very kind words
roses are red –violence is blue specially when i hit you with my left shoe (nothing personal of course) love your work
Came to check out your forms, but I am inspired by your bio to comment. You never know where you might find a kindred spirit. I see parallels between your journey and my own…though when my breakdown came I was too whacked out to realize the healing power of words (I’m slow like that). But, here I am some fifteen years later trying to grab those words before they float away…finally. Thanks for sharing, love your work!
@rob Cheers Rob!
@Emily Nice to meet you Emma. Kindred spirits – what a joy to find them. Who knew?
I too am tired of the waste of lettuce that is iceberg.
It masquerades as nutrient, but just takes up space like a bad politician.
Glad to find your corner of the web.
@Andrew Z
@Quarto Barto nice to meet you both