I only got into this poetry thing in the mid 90's. Just started writing stuff down. It was my take on the things going on around me.
At the time I was working for an advertising agency in London. I started to email the work to the 500 guys in our building on a friday...people seemed to be into it.
This work formed the content to my first book 'The Erotic Cafe' that I released in 1999. It was a 'self published' production, which really means that you finance the project. I had not bothered with the normal route of sending work to publishers or poetry magazines in this country.
The project cost me about £10,000 in terms of design, print and production. Although the book was seen as a self published release by the retailers, they took an interest when I sent sample copies out to about 200 Waterstone's branches around the country.
The book started to sell, there was media interest, which I've learned since to be quite rare. My daughter's were surprised when a television production crew turned up outside the house one day.
The content to the first book was a mix of subject matter. Some of it was about what Damon Albarn had described as 'Modern life is rubbish'. There were also a few glimpses of relationship stuff, and a few of the pieces were abstract.
In 2001 I released 'The Pornstar and the Priest', which was a similar production to the first book. The subject matter was from the street and a take on UK lifestyle. I was happier with the content.
By now my name had got round a bit and I was able to convince all of the major book retailers to stock my work.
I left my job as an art director to concentrate on writing full time, 'Blueprint for Life' came out in 2004. It cost me over £20,000 to produce and advertise the book. I had remortgaged the house to do it.
Despite the exposure in retail and doing a lot of other things that were promoting the work the projects were never going to be financially viable. It is possible to get into the best selling poetry titles in the country, but because of the way things work it is unlikely to make any profit.
The latest book 'Dirty Blonde at the Cash Machine' was inspired by a girl I met in a supermarket car park who was into heroin and crack. We would spend time together. I told her that I was researching aspects of her life to form a backdrop for a kind of poetry book.
It was an amazing time. Sometimes I would be driving her around at 5am to all these deadbeat places. The material and vibe was all around us. It felt like we were appearing in a film at times. It was dark and heavy stuff, but I knew I had to be there.
I used to record her messages on my answer phone ( with her permission ) and one of these appeared word for word in the book.
There are a few other lifestyle aspects of material in Dirty Blonde. The production amounted to a wiro bound book with widescreen landscape pages that open up to show black and white photographs which were shot on location in Luton by Stuart Nicholls. I cast a model - Julie Patterson to represent 'Katie' who I had lost contact with.
I know the book is different from anything else that has been produced in the UK or anywhere else.
During the last 9 months or so I have written more material than is contained collectively in the first 4 books. Much of it is almost interview / transcript style and is a follow up to what was happening in Dirty Blonde.
I collect words, images, lines from conversations, bits of info from television breaking news and all sorts of other reference. Sometimes I will merge about 5 elements together. The results are abstact but with an undercurrent of the street vibe.
I work fast, it is a little like throwing all the things in the mix together, but trying to keep a simple language that has atmosphere and a vibe that is a reflection of the times we live in and a mirror of postmodern Britain.
Poetry is a creative outlet. A way of expressing things. I am hoping to take my work into film or sound, but the most important thing is that it is written at all. We should get our ideas out, even if only for ourselves.
There is some amazing work being done by all kinds of people. Some of this work will never be seen...but it has to be written.
http://www.myspace.com/art_gallery
http://www.myspace.com/mari___oh
http://www.marilikestoshoot.book.fr