I first came across Andrew Barber's work through Twitter when he posted links to the medieval poetic essays he is writing for 'Lionhearts', his forthcoming book collaboration with Maree Ward Russell. The way those essays touched my inner emotions was inspirational and I was moved to write some of my own in the same vein, with varying results!
When Andrew asked me to take a look at his book 'Me, My World and I' I wasn't sure what to expect as I knew it would be a much different type of work to that which I had previously enjoyed. I wasn't disappointed by what I found.
In his book, Andrew writes a poem inspired by a moment in his everyday life and then writes about what the words mean to him and where he was at in his life at the time. He doesn't tell you what to think and, indeed, encourages the reader's own interpretation and thoughts. For him, it seems, part of the joy of writing poetic prose is sparking thoughts and ideas in others which lead them to a deeper appreciation of their existence and the everyday world around them.
Some of his thoughts can be slightly controversial but he can perhaps be forgiven for expressing them in the spirit of the freethinking he exhibits himself and encourages in others.
His book 'Me, My World and I' is one to be dipped into rather than read in one sitting. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest this is the only way to read it. Each poetic work deserves further thought and analysis to be fully appreciated.
Andrew's wonderful medieval poetic essays for the upcoming Lionhearts book (due out 2014) can be found here and are really worth a look.
Andrew's own website can be found here, where he also blogs. He also posts his work at Poemhunter.com.
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