Whanganui poet Garry Spooner often finds inspiration while walking with his dog Twig. Photo / Supplied
Garry Spooner was once a butcher and now he is part-time brush hand and a poet.
His new book Emerging Words is a collection of almost 150 poems divided into sections with titles such as Night & Day, Romance & Flirtation and Aotearoa.
His transition from dressing meat to crafting poems does not seem so incongruous when Spooner says he has a lifelong love of verse.
"Dr Seuss was a particular favourite of mine.
"I would write little pieces of alliteration and rhyme which amused my parents."
Since moving to Whanganui from his home town Paraparaumu with his wife Pauline and their dog Twig, Spooner says he has become prolific.
He is often inspired during walks with Twig and the Emerging Words cover photo is a shadow image of the man and dog.
Although he left school early with no formal qualifications, Spooner continued his literary education with Edgar Allan Poe reading Tales of Mystery and Imagination and as a musician, he also listened to the Alan Parsons Project album with the same title.
The Poe influence may explain the section titled Macabre in Spooner's anthology and poems such as All Hallows Eve with the opening line "Once upon a Moonlit nightmare dreaming."
Lately, he has become enamoured of iambic pentameter, sonnets and other 14 line poems.
"I have never had formal teaching in writing different forms of poetry.
"I study work by noted poets and ask advice from other writers."
Emerging Words has been published by Feilding company Rangitawa Publishing and is available at Paiges Book Gallery and Paper Plus in Whanganui. It is also available as an Ebook on Amazon.
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