It gives me great pleasure to introduce Poet, Paul Brookes, to Patricia’s Pen.

My Writing

Paul Brookes

Prelude

In school something in me wrote of Morko Ryanne

Space Captain whose ship spirals

into a black hole of my parents arguments

as if it knew something was not right.

In school something in me wrote

of peeling white paint on worm ridden window sills

of my parents screams as I sat on the stairs

as if it knew something was not right

The hand that propelled the pen.

If a poem is meant to be a short, encapsulation of an experience then “prelude” neatly sums up why I began to write. Also, the genres through which I began to explore writing, sci-fi and gritty realism. Then from a quiet village school I moved to a comprehensive in Barnsley. A culture shock. I stand against bullying because I was bullied…