Pugilistica!

This past thursday was the release event for my second collection called 'Fights', put out by Veer books. From writing to publication the book was over 18 months in the making, and I read the first cycle (one of 15) 'Arthur Abraham' at my first writers forum workshop in January 2010. The book is made up of 15 cycles with 9 poems per cycle, so 135 poems in all. Each cycle is an attempt to record or synthesise the life / acts /persona of a modern era boxer in the lexicon of poetry, be it visual, verbal or otherwise.

I have always said that Fights has been my favourite project to work on purely because it needs no internal justification when being written. I love boxing, am enamoured with the sport and watch so many hours of it whenever possible, so the poetry is just a representation of that experience. There is no middle ground, no possibility for posturing, for finding a reason to write each poem. This is probably why the book is so structured, just to find a form to my 'recordings'.

The evening itself was a lovely experience because of the generosity of others, the readers who made it an event and the friends who came to support me.