I’m Bob Christian; a husband, father, grandfather and cat dad. I’m a dyslexic poet. I am on the Autism Spectrum and I started writing poetry, or scribbles as I’ve always referred to them, to help me to process my thoughts and emotions. It’s also helped with my PTSD. It’s gone from there and after over 20 years is still going strong, I’m now finally dabbling in to photography as I’ve been told I have a good eye.
I have tried to experiment or write my poetry differently, so many times. I’ve tried angry diss track type, I’ve tried dark poetry. I even tried writing the kind of rhyming same number of lines per verse Hallmark style poetry.
In the end it’s not about doing things differently, it’s about learning what your strengths are creatively and playing to them. I’ve not done things differently I’ve just learnt to push myself outside of my comfort zone, to take risks, while evolving as an artist.
The ONLY thing I’d maybe do differently, is to start on this path earlier than I did (2005) who knows where I’d be then.
That’s a tough one, I’m assuming college as in the American term. So I’ll start at the beginning…
I first attended college at 17 to study mechanical and electrical engineering at HNC & HND (higher national certificate/degree) this was while I was working for Rolls Royce aerospace like my (bio) father and grandfather. I then went onto a number of other engineering qualifications, paid for by employers over the years to degree standard.
The next courses I did were paid for by a German engineering company called Voss. I studied PMO’s ( performing manufacturing operations ) this is basically a method of showing how to do a job using pictures and words, plus as a cell leader or supervisor I was also expected to do the assessors award so I can then teach PMO’s at an NVQ level.
In my later years I’ve studied subjects at Havard, Georgetown, and a number of other colleges through the EdX online learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT in 2012. I discovered it a year later, while doing ethical reasoning and CS50 (Computer science) via Harvard. I dropped CS50 to do Bioethics at Georgetown instead.
So I’ve studied a lot and I’m going to study some more as it’s fun to learn new things.
Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?
I do play in my daily life. I head to an invite only lobby, and head to Los Santos to maybe go for a bike ride or play golf.
Yes I’m talking about GTAV (online) it’s my goto game, and I like the fact that you can play all the missions etc and you don’t have to put up with some teenager with a weaponised flying bike giving everyone grief. The other thing is I can just go for a drive, or any number of activities and not worry about other people.
The other games I love to play are the Batman Arkham series or even the new Gotham Knights game. These games appeal to me as my narrow field of focus (one of them) is Batman. I posses a library of graphic novels (around 5-600) most of them are Batman related the rest are marvel and some indie comics. Batman games are great because they’re not just punching bad guys, there’s clues to find, riddles to solve and the collectible art works are simply stunning.
Playtime for me is a form of downtime, and a way to relax after a hard or stressful day, it’s not just for teenagers anymore.
Ps MMORPG’s like World of Warcraft or Black Desert online are a great way to loose half a day questing
My Shed. Sitting in my shed in the warm weather, tinkering with some do-hickey or writing poetry.
The reason that this is that when I was a small boy, my parents had a shed at the back of the garden behind a massive silver birch tree. I used to love playing in it or just getting away from the world. Then there’s my grandfather’s.
One was an engineer for Rolls Royce aerospace and had basically extended his shed by bolting two together, cutting through and adding electrical points for a chest freezer, which looking back is quite a feat while also being a health and or safety violation.
The other was a retired fireman. Who was a keen gardener, painter and handyman. His shed was standard sized with a rug on the deck and draws and boxes of things everywhere. Including things hung from the ceiling plant pots were stacked on the floor and it collected rain water into a couple of water barrels.
So, no I’m a grandfather myself I have my own shed. Mine has a rug and a chair, a nice workbench made from off cuts of the kitchen. It has a solar panel on the side that has a micro usb connector, which charges a solar (or mains) powered light bulb, or my phone, screwdriver etc. I love nothing more than sitting in there in summer and relaxing, or writing some poetry. When I’m in the shed I do reminisce fondly of times gone by.
Christmas Day Mrs Bob and I headed to the beach, it’s a weekly routine. (We have a dance on the sands, then we unwind, and recharge ourselves for the week ahead.) Unfortunately Mother Nature had other ideas, it was a little windy on the seafront.
So I got my new 400mm tele out for the first time, and my other lenses, below is a few of these shots (Taken on Pentax K-X unless stated)
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.
Longmarsh Totnes
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”
The biggest influences in my life are a small group of poets that belong to the Button poetry stable. The reason is that when I first started writing my scribbles and trying to turn them into poetry I felt I didn’t fit in with what poetry was supposed to be. All I’d ever read was the stuffy “I wandered lonely as a cloud” style of classical poetry.
That was until I was scrolling through YouTube one night and came across button poetry and one of there poets called Kyle Tran Mhyre aka Guante, with a piece called “Ten responses to the phrase, Man-up” it was raw, emotional, and so passionate. What I’d discovered was slam style poetry and this was more my style. It didn’t have to rhyme, and you could use any language you wanted to get your point across. The more I watched of Guante and other Button poets, such as Neil Hilborn and Rudy Francisco, the more I realised that this was the style of poetry i wanted to write myself.
That was nearly twenty years ago.
Since then I’ve continued to write slam style poetry and I’ve found my own style and voice. I’ve written about some painful subjects and I’ve raised awareness of mental health, with poems such as “This poem Ends Every Forty Seconds” (statistically a person takes their life every forty seconds) The crowning achievement for me was probably having the people that inspired me, become more than just my peers and become virtual friends. I also (anonymously) took part in a No Kings event organised by Guante, where poets, artists etc all worked together and shared their work and ideas.
Describe a man who has positively impacted your life.
There’s only one man I’d credit for being a positive role mole and influence in life, so much so that I took his name and used it in part for my pen name. That man is Walter S Christian. He was my maternal grandfather.
When my biological father (sperm donor) walked out the night before Mother’s Day. I was not even ten years old, and I didn’t really have a male role in my life, not that he was one before he left.
My grandad taught me so very much about what a gentleman should and shouldn’t do, from the little things like making sure your shoes were polished and you made an effort to look smart, to things such as helping your fellow man regardless of their faith or creed. He taught me the value of working hard, being honest, and above all being a stand up guy.
He was a retired firefighter and in his later years he’d become an excellent artist, sign-writer and gardener. He was always happiest in his shed or in the greenhouse pottering with his tomatoes. While I’ve never been very good either plants, I’ve certainly developed his love of a good shed, and can be found most weekends tinkering with something, writing poetry, or just watching the wildlife in my garden.
So I’ve spent the last 20 years or so writing and creating under the name that reminds me daily to try my hardest, do my best, and to be a decent person that honours his memory the best way I can.
The Ramblings of Bob Christian 