Description This is a new collection of poetry, short-stories and literary criticism which reflect something of a renaissance in my writing. It is called: ‘Sisyphus: a celebration’ and embraces the vocation of all Sisyphean figures which is one of constant struggle, but there is also another, brighter dimension. Every time you have pushed that rock to the top of the mountain there is an experience of exhilaration and wonder; one writes. However Fate will push the rock back down and the process must be repeated. But it is enough and more to reach the top of the mountain again and again and then to articulate these experiences creatively and intellectually in the form of poetry and prose. About the Author Born in 1959 he has experienced many mental vicissitudes: a runaway at 13, fostered, detained by the courts at age 14 as being ‘in need of care and protection’ followed by two years in a psychiatric hospital, compulsory ECT aged 16, being restrained and given injections of chlorpromazine, not always in the most compassionate of ways. He remembers as a teenager a member of staff jamming the needle into his leg with the words: ‘you’ll remember this’, he does. He had an intravenous drug abuse problem until the age of 25 and now is fighting the physical consequences of the latter and will find out later this year if his body has recovered. The health professionals only picked-up his physical illness a few years ago after some missed opportunities although once his treatment began the professionals involved have been excellent. However through reading and writing he is no longer an Icarus figure flying close to the sun which can lead to self-destruction through mental health problems of a diverse nature: psychosis, mood-swing, previous substance abuse, but one who celebrates his life as a Sisyphus figure who as well as fulfilling the Sisyphean task both thinks and writes. He has a BA (Hons) 2:1 from the Open University and a Certificate in English Studies from Warwick University and currently works in a bookshop once a week.
