I liked these two poems. Disturbing, sad, dark, accentuating emptiness. I’m assuming, perhaps wrongly, that Ligotti is an influence on your writing. Who else has influenced your poetry?
Thank you for your kind words. It really does mean a lot.
Ligotti is most certainly an influence, but perhaps on more of a subconscious level. I never intend to channel Ligotti - indeed, I think any attempt to ape his work would be doomed to failure - but, undoubtedly, the impact of having read almost everything Ligotti has ever written has been a lasting one.
In terms of conscious influences, the most prominent is the late Joel Lane. His poetry and fiction, more than any other author, taught me that even in the bleak mundanity of the modern urban world, beauty can still be found.
'
The Opposite of Stars' is based on a real-life experience of mine, although some artistic licence has been taken in rendering it as a poem. '
The Lost Harbour' is an attempt to express the feeling of being in a train station at night, which I've always felt to be as lonely a place as one can ever hope to find in the city.
Thank you again, Arthur, for your kind words. For a budding writer, every bit of feedback really does serve as the most wonderful form of encouragement.
