As a child I loved writing compositions at school and even poems. When it came to choosing my academic future though I chose sciences, knowing that I could write poetry while studying sciences, whereas if I studied literature I would never have kept up my interest in science.
I lived in Malawi, in southern Africa for two years, teaching sciences, which was a wonderfully inspiring experience. When droughts hit Malawi in 2002, I put together and self published Bougainvillea Dancing a chapbook of poetry mostly inspired by my time in the country, which raised money for charities working in Malawi.
When blogs started to be popular I thought it would be a great way to develop an audience for my work. I wanted it to be more than that though so I combined three of my passions to create Crafty Green Poet (http://craftygreenpoet.blogspot.com) which has been going for five years now. I blog most days which really helps me to be disciplined about my writing.
I also edit Bolts of Silk (http://boltsofsilk.blogspot.com) an online poetry journal. Editing has made me much more analytical about poetry and has helped me to think more deeply about my own writing. As has reviewing. I review quite a lot of books (and sometimes other things!) on Crafty Green Poet and have had an unpaid contract with a review website (now sadly defunct).
I have also developed my online presence elsewhere. I find Twitter the most useful in terms of offering me networking opportunities and the ability to share work and ideas.
In the real world I like to get on stage. Well to be honest I've always struggled with stage fright, but there's nothing like the feeling after a successful reading in front of an appreciative audience. Reading poetry in front of an audience is a really good way of honing work too, I become much more aware of the weaknesses in my poems.
I'm never short of ideas for poetry. I'm constantly inspired by nature and have a box where I store ideas, quotes and half written poems. So if I'm struggling with ideas I have a handy source of inspiration.
I write mostly free verse and haiku. I think though that its really useful to learn about form and how to use rhyme and other poetic devices. So I've written a villanelle, a sestina, triolets and terza rima. This has helped me to internalise the rhythms and sounds of poetry, though I am not a formal poet by any means!
I'm an environmentalist, but I would never want to use my poetry as a soapbox to try to change people's attitudes. A political rant disguised as a poem is still a political rant. I think that the more subtle approach can be more effective in helping people to think differently and if my poetry does that then I'm more than happy.
Juliet Wilson
Crafty Green Poet
