Hello all. I live on beautiful Waiheke Island, Auckland.

I started writing poetry in the spring of 2016. I was walking on a pilgrimage along Spain’s Santiago de Compostela trail. The trip was an inner and outer journey of self-discovery hosted by my dear friend Louise Marra. Louise combined the discovery of new places, and culture, with the explorer part of the self. This had the effect of expanding consciousness and connectedness. That, coupled with falling in love, and boom I was gone. The landscape was speaking through me somehow and I couldn’t write fast enough. I have been writing with a passion ever since.

Previously, for the past thirty-five years, I have been active in a more outward expression within the arts, working professionally in: acting, physical theatre, dance, clown, mime, trapeze, opera, devising theatre, improvisation, directing, teaching, etc. I completed a Diploma of Drama from Auckland University and several papers at Victoria in Theatre in the 80'ties. Trained as an actor and performance artist in Melbourne, Auckland, and Wellington.

This poet’s candlewick has shone a light inward and gifted me a stillness. To be with the world and reflect on it in a new way.

I have published 78 poems in 22 international poetry anthologies. Had my poems read on American radio, and have over 800 poems published on poetry websites. This will be my debut book of poetry.

The poems in this book share some of the pebbles and gems of that journey. Slices of life from Waiheke Island, landscapes of New Zealand, the pandemic, love, life and death, war and peace, childhood, and fatherhood, a pohutukawa tree with muscular legs, bones that melt into clothes, finally she sees him, the brambled and bruised blackberry boy, prying wings, outside it snows butterfly slices of love, inside opium and fireworks, she the sparking flint with tangerine lips, smoking after sex.