The Ramblings of a Cumbrian Heathen: A Collection of Poems

Hello my name is Tom Higgins and I am fifty nine years old, and I am married with two daughters. We shall have been married for thirty years on 30th July this year!I had never written more than a postcard since I left school at the age of seventeen, but about three years ago I was watching a documentary about the shortage of water in certain parts of the planet which was the prompt which triggered my first attempt at recording my thoughts on the issue.I have been an avid reader of fiction and history throughout my life, and latterly I have increasingly discovered a growing interest in some of life's great mysteries which provides me with a method of ensuring that I am never bored as the ever expanding library of man's scientific discoveries is now easily accessed from anywhere on the planet where a laptop or any other device can connect to the internet.I do have a view of the world as a very contradictory place where great beauty can be found sometimes a stone's throw from wickedness and violence, and I try to reflect this in some of what I write. There are other great absurdities which I like to question, and some people find that they don't like anyone asking such questions, but that road leads to tyranny so I will keep on asking. I have posted some of my work on some poetry sites, and I have had good feedback in general except from the academically trained "poets", who seem to find fault with everything I write, because I know nothing of the vast array of different styles of word play that make up" poetry" in their very well educated world. The problem is I can understand very little of what these people write. I feel that they have created an exclusive club in which only those who have been given access to the codes can comprehend what it is they are saying. I write to tell short stories which people other than myself can understand. I do not write poetry to win prizes for technical brilliance. I write to express what I am thinking and feeling at a given moment and feelings are not taught in any educational establishment. I try use language that all those who have not had the privilege to be classically educated can read and understand with ease.So if you decide that this is of interest to you, and you partake of a copy of this, my first anthology then thank you I hope you enjoy reading my poems!Kindest Regards,Tom Higgins 14/04/2013