The British Library London 05

The saying goes "a bad workman blames his tools". A bad writer does not blame his tools - that's the whole point. He blames the publisher that won't publish him, the venue that won't hear his genius work, anything and anyone - including himself - but the tools. And therefore I can never teach anyone to write.

What I do is introduce ways to choose and then sharpen the tools that the writer uses. This principle applies to workshops across the board: Workshops with children, with adults, professionals and amateurs. 

I have given thousands of workshops and classes over twenty years as a poet. To name a few places for example I have given workshops in Thailand Zimbabwe Greece Australia Germany and the UK.

I have given workshops with the elderly, with the severely disabled with  schools for excluded children. I have given workshops in theatres, in colleges in children's homes prisons and literature festivals .I have given workshops in cities in towns and villages as a writer in residence or as a visiting poet for a day, a couple of hours, a half day. I have given writers workshops in writers centre's, on islands, in high schools, junior schools and universities.

Though I will always give workshops I no longer fill my diary with workshop dates. The workshop circuit can be a subtle trap for the poets creativity and possibly for his integrity. As a visiting teacher, and i emphasis the word "visiting" it is important that the effect of the short time is long lasting. It is important tome that the agenda an organization fulfills by booking the poet never infringes on the work the poet does in the workshop.

There are few things as pleasurable to me as watching a group of workshop participants discovering new ways. It's like watching children discover a beach for the first time. Some will build sand castles, some will search through rock pools, some will stare out to sea, some will run in circles with arms outstretched, and some will write their names in the sand until the waves come and some will lie on their backs and make shapes out of the clouds. They are all exercising their imagining in very real and very new pastures.

If this sounds too obscure, what i am saying is that there is nothing better than seeing a person not just write a poem but be in wonder and awe at what they wrote. If you match this with a persons important and crucial inner critical voice you have The Writer.  Nothing more exciting than seeing a person feel confident about their own critical inner voice.

Artistically we spend alot of time struggling in the sea, Treading Water. Some peoeple spend their entire lives Treading Water.  There are whole continents of creativity waiting for us to explore. All I do is stand on the beach and guide the boat in.