1) What is the theme of your poem?
How personality vastly affects experience but with somewhat random outcomes.
2) What motivated you to write this poem?
No one thing but I wanted to write a poem at two different speeds. It was also supposed to be more comedic than it ended up being.
3) How long have you been writing poetry?
I started off writing song lyrics in my teens, which quickly morphed into poetry and I’ve been writing it ever since.
4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
Mary Shelley.
5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?
I thought it would be interesting to hear my words in the voice of another – as indeed it was.
6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?
Yes, as well as poetry, I write short stories, novels and, more recently, a novella. A lot of these works are listed on my website: https://markkirkbride.com/
7) What is your passion in life?
Writing, reading, exploring the natural world, as well as exploring the arts (plays, galleries etc, when possible).
Watch the POETRY Reading:
The Note Pinned to my Heart Reads…, by Mark Kirkbride
I have been struck by lightning, twice,
once in the neck, once in the Trossachs.
I crawled out of a crash with whiplash
and made a bleeding, limping dash
across the border. Armed guards fired.
I’ve stowed away on boats and planes
and jumped from high-speed, foreign trains.
You keep the curtains closed all day
and never come out before dark.
It’s a wonder we ever met.
I found you wandering the streets
like Aphrodite in a nightie.
I’ve been in fights, been read my rights.
I changed my surname by deed poll
and still got chased by Interpol.
I’ve phoned from every call box,
mailed cards from every post box,
just to tell you, ‘I’m on my way
and getting closer every day.’
When I crawl up your garden path,
your mum tells me to go away.
I can’t go on, I can’t go back.
When you wake in the morning
you will find me dead on your doorstep.
Matthew Toffolo's Summary 