I write classical poetry for a number of reasons.

Firstly. I love Greek and Roman literature, I am fascinated by those past lives. When I write a classical poem, I aim to ‘Represent The Lives of Days Bygone’.

Secondly, In 2017 I connected with the American poet Aria Ligi on LinkedIn. I had written a number of classical poems in free verse. She suggested that I should be writing poetry in classical meters such as sonnets.

I had a free verse poem called “Astoundment” which I turned into a sonnet. I took a number of classical poems and wrote my version of them. Aria has been very helpful in teaching me to write classical poetry.

In June 2021 she said that these poems had to be made immediately relevant to a modern reader in a thought-provoking way. This was a considerable challenge. My method is to write a sonnet bookending the classical poem giving it context and, if necessary, write another sonnet explaining the mythology. ‘A Single Bee’ was my first attempt to meet the Aria challenge.

I am preparing a manuscript, ‘Dreaming Ancient Dreams’, for possible publication.