“It’s almost playfulness really, I enjoy doing it and I have fun. Writing poems is no good at all, if you don’t get some fun out of it.”
David: “I did a little poetry at school and university but after that my life took a different turn, I went to work for the united nations translating, writing reports, and lots of editing. And then WHO in Geneva, the publishing side of things, as WHO is quite a big publisher, 50 to 75 books with ISBNs each year. Now, coming to poetry, it was when I moved Frome that I began to write again, I found a peculiar niche in one of the choirs I belonged to because a lot of pop songs have very poor lyrics and very short lyrics, and I was writing extra verses for some of the pop songs we sang in the choir. Then I wrote an anthem for another choir and a carol for the Frome Youth Choir. This set me thinking that I really ought to get back to poetry writing because I was enjoying it.”
David: “Poetry has been an absolutely tremendous thing for myself as I lose other faculties. I mean, as I get older, I haven't been able to move around a bit. I haven't had the same new experiences. But I've discovered a richness in remembering what the world used to be like. What I've lived through, all the tremendous experiences I've had, and being able to express them and share them with other people has been a tremendous thing. And I've had some wonderful help from other poems along the way. I would like to think that there's something there that I've been able to contribute to other people too.”
David: “I think poetry is worth doing for its own sake. Whether or not you get an external reward, surely you get a wonderful reward, just within yourself, expressing yourself, doing something different, something new, being yourself, putting it on paper.”
Peter: “Do you find it cathartic?”
David: “It's such a healing process to write certain kinds of poetry. Sometimes, yes, sometimes… I wouldn't dignify it exactly with catharsis. It's just having some fun. It's being playful. It's enjoying yourself.”
David Thompson’s books are published by independent small press publisher Hob Nob Press. You can buy his books directly from them by clicking the link below.
Days of Dark and Light, Recent Poems by Frome writer David Thompson, explains that during the period from early 2020 to mid-2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic dominated much of daily life, many elements of experience were limited by an array of restrictions. Without travel, or the opportunity for everyday encounters, imagination and memory became even more important. In his case, a return to writing, and particularly to poetry, was a means of escaping or transcending the collapse of normal life. At the same time, he wanted to explore a variety of poetic forms, some of them unfamiliar, that were stimulating to attempt and seemed to match latent images and feelings. Includes the poet's own illustrations.
In ‘Where The Love Is’, David Thompson’s second poetry collection, he continues his exploration of themes close to him - memory, imagination, love, nature and the environment, and the links between poetry and other arts. The poems, including several prize-winners, are wise and articulate, sometimes romantic, sometimes lightly whimsical, often poignant. His poetic narrative brings together a variety of forms and moods in an elegant, entertaining and very personal voice.
After military service and studies at Oxford and the Sorbonne, David Thompson worked in Ibiza and back in Oxford before moving to New York where he worked as a translator at United Nations headquarters, followed by five years with the UN in Bangkok as translator, editor and interpreter. He then joined WHO in Geneva, where he spent many years in editing and publishing. He has worked as a free-lance editor and writer in France and now lives in Frome, Somerset. He has strong interests in music, sketching, pottery, poetry and natural history
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