Neil Lawson Baker – Poetry

Poetry

I enjoy writing poetry.  It is another way of expressing one’s feelings without the help of paint, clay or wax.  The word can be so powerful.  Recently, Abigail McKern, the actress, has added some of my work to her portfolio.  She reads beautifully and makes great videos to express the poems visually.

Neil Lawson Baker – Poetry

When I retired from dentistry, the whole artistic world opened up to me.  I am very lucky to have the time to go where I will in it.  Of course, some artists are able to do nothing but paint, or sculpt, or write because they are so focussed on their favourite medium.  I feel very lucky to be able to chop and change as I please.

Poetry has come into the mix and I’m very happy that it has.  I hope you enjoy my poems.  They’re not published in written form yet, so this is the only place you can hear them.

I enjoyed poetry as a boy, but somehow it fell away somewhat when I was training.  At school though, some of the phrases were SO powerful and made a huge impression.

‘Tiger, tiger, burning bright,‘

and

‘Into the valley of death, rode the 600‘

There were plenty more, of course:

‘I wandered lonely as a cloud‘

and

‘…host of golden daffodils‘

We went to church as a family and I learned Jerusalem:

‘And did those feet, in ancient times…‘

It doesn’t matter that it is a hymn, William Blake’s poetry is just wonderful.

We’re also lucky to have such clever comedy in English too.  The trivial, but ever-so-jolly lyrics from Gilbert and Sullivan and then Flanders and Swann, complete the spectrum for me:

‘Mud, mud, glorious mud,

Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!‘

The English language is so rich!

Please click here to view a selection of my sculpture.