I once associated the word 'poetry' with feelings of boredom - boredom to the point of almost falling asleep at school when being forced to study the subject. It all felt so distant and elitist.
The passing of years, thankfully, has helped free my brain from those classroom constraints.
No more having to over analyze those rigid structures and rules that I firmly believe serve only to interrupt the flow of a good poem and no more making notes in margins or over parts of a mandatory text in pencil to highlight examples of whatever it was the teacher wanted us to highlight.
Fast forward many years to 2019 and with my decision to give poetry another chance came the freedom to write just what I wanted and how I wanted with the added bonus of really enjoying the process.
My poems written here between September 2019 and November 2024 are those that I feel best represent my work and make up what is in effect that paperback anthology that I never got round to self-publishing.
Kudos to Poetry Soup for providing the platform that has enabled me to showcase my poetry to a wider audience and a big thank you, too, to all those 'Soupers' and readers beyond 'The Soup' for their support and encouragement over the years.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers - Gary
In addition to having been published in various pamphlets, recited on local radio and referenced on several websites, UK Merseyside based poet Gary Radice has had twelve poems published in four Poetry Soup anthologies:
Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry (2024)
Reflections On The Important Things (2023)
PS: It's Still Poetry (2022)
PS: It's Poetry: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry From Around the World (2020)
My Websites:
'themagiceye' Years active 1999 - 2018 (hosted by Joyland Books since 2007) featuring articles about The Past, Present & Future of Amusement Parks And Rides. The site is still up on the net (untouched since 2018) at:
https://www.joylandbooks.com/themagiceye/
'The Nice Rooms' Years active 2013 - 2018. This (now defunct) site featured interviews and articles about Cult TV Film & Music. A 2018 interview with Terry Draper - a Canadian musician who was the drummer of the 1970s band Klaatu - can be found on Terry's website at:
https://terrydraper.com/terry-talks-to-gary-radice-of-the-nice-rooms-webzine-about-his-2018-album-once-upon-a-memory/
..and I never did get to be a train driver: 
gR / '26