Talking to David Lythgoe about his poetry collection

 

How did you start writing poetry?

In 1987 I was working in India for a year a long way from the tourist areas with nowhere to go and very little to do. I’d left my wife at home in England and was feeling lonely. I was also missing my days amongst the mountains and hills of Britain. I have always enjoyed reading and I had a good teacher of English who introduced me to the power of words to stir the emotions. With nothing to read, it seemed the natural thing to do was to write for  myself and writing poetry was a useful activity to describe my experiences.

This is a fascinating collection How did you decide what to include?

I write only ten to twelve poems per year. Each poem will have gestated for a long time and been re-written, maybe many times before I’m satisfied that it’s worth inflicting on the public.

In your opinion, what makes a good poem? 

There are many types of poem. Rhymed poems or poems in blank or free verse for example,  so there is no simple answer. Some poets use words in a clever way, but such an ability will not necessarily produce a good poem. Some make their point in few words but need to be read many times before being fully appreciated. Others may be too wordy but may still tug on the emotions. The bottom line is that a good poem must communicate the poet’s intention clearly to the reader, preferably by inducing an empathetic response.

 I know you’ve been a judge for the LAA . What do you look for in poems?

When adjudicating a competition, and not commenting in general terms, I look for integrity of intent, writing from the heart, simplicity, directness, clarity, attention to detail. All that assumes an absence of spelling errors accompanied by punctuation appropriate for the layout of the poem.  

Can you tell us a little about your writing process?

Most of my poems begin in the small hours when I lie awake in the dark. If I have an idea that I think may be useful, I write it down immediately before it fades away. The next morning, or maybe days later, I look at it and may, or may not, develop the idea. It may then take months or even years of re-writing before I’m satisfied that the final version is worth adding to a collection. Looking in retrospect at my own published poems, I realise that in some cases I ought to have been more critical.  However, this raises a problem because the initial writing may possess a delightful freshness that too much re-writing will destroy.

Do you have any tips for new poets?

Read poetry! Read poetry! And again, read poetry especially by established poets, both classical and modern.  My personal favourites are the metaphysical poets, especially George Herbert, together with Wordsworth, R.S. Thomas, Charles Causley, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes and  Carol Anne Duffy amongst many others.

Do you have any more writing projects or events planned?

I’ve nothing planned, although I have several embryo poems awaiting development. These, together with a selection from the best of my earlier poems (some with minor improvements), might form the basis of another book. 

Find out more about David's book here.