How are you creative?

Im a poet and photographer. So I’d say yes. Right..?

Well photography has been something I’ve loved doing for many years. I’m talking disposable flash cubes long, without ever seeing it as creative. I’ve always just seen photography as something fun and a way of documenting those cherished memories for my children and grandchildren. In later years I’ve had people comment on my pictures and style and say I have “an eye for it”. Truth be told I’ve no idea of what I’m doing. I’ve never studied it at any level, well I did one photography for beginners lesson, at the hotel we were staying at over Christmas (it was 2hr while on our honeymoon) I don’t know what settings do to a picture or what or what focal length etc is, actually i lie I googled it yesterday. You get the point though I’ve no clue how to set up shots. I just like to take pictures, and occasionally I get shots like this.

My poetry however is a completely different animal. I started writing poetry or scribbles as I prefer to call them twenty years ago. This started out as a way of dealing with my crippling depression and anxiety (which turned out to be Autism, and PTSD) it was supposed to be a form of therapy to help me process what was going on in my life. It was when I scribbled a little something for my nieces naming ceremony, that things began to take shape, as people started asking me who wrote it, where did I get it from. I realised that i might have a gift for this poetry malarkey.

Unlike photography where I have a knack for apparently (Mrs Bob thinks so) poetry is something I’ve had to work at as apart from being on the spectrum, I’m dyslexic to boot. This means I’ve had to learn and ask my (actually qualified) proofreading wife, Mrs Bob, (who hasn’t read this post prior to posting) to help me.

So I’d say, I’m not creative. I’m just hard working and I’ve used therapy to write some emotional stories while learning to heal.

“(Excerpt) I didn’t want to be a poet, I just wanted to be ok”

“My metaphors aren’t pretty, they’re practical.

Every line is triage…

Every pause is me checking for a pulse.”