Mike Stevens

After teaching English for over 30 years, it is perhaps not surprising that my work reflects this. Didactic in places, allusive, respectful of poetic traditions, especially form, in relationship with other writers, not all of them poets. Besides teaching, I have also been a Chief Examiner in English Language and Literature, and held various management positions in education.

The subject matter of my work is varied:  literary and religious themes, philosophical ideas, mythology, and the natural world.

The poems are sorted into 3 loose categories.

Versions includes the re-telling of older, especially biblical, stories. In Jewish literature, there is a genre of creative responses to sacred stories called Midrash: meditations on the Torah and the other scrolls that re-imagine and re-present the narratives and characters in order to explore ethical or theological questions. I see some of the poems in this section as kinds of Midrashim.

Places is where you will find poems about the natural world and about Cornwall.

In Ideas there are, amongst other things, works inspired from engaging with philosophical and other concepts.

Each poem has a contextualising passage, and, at the bottom of each page, you will find a link to performed readings or video interpretations of some poems.

Meur ras for taking the time to swing by.