Andy N : part three

When you require renewal, is there a particular poem or book that you return to? A particular author?

I have lots of writers I admire, not all poets or who don’t always write poetry - Paul Auster is one such case who has directed films, done non fiction, a series of novels as well as poetry whose work always leaves me stunned. My favourite poet is probably Hugo Williams mostly because of his book Billy’s Rain. 

I got into this book by chance after going to a poetry reading at a local bookshop in Bolton to see a local writer, and the bookshop staff decided as we were all doing a course on writing poetry for us all to pick out a poetry book to try and help us understand poetry a bit more.

I have forgotten over time why I chose Hugo Williams’s Billys Rain instead of one of the many other titles that were there.. I suspect it was probably the cover but maybe also the title. What is Billy’s Rain? But whatever reason I chose the book, just to show you how you get your own meanings out of books (Like with some of your favourite music albums), I took Billy’s Rain about being a love story that went wrong only to find out about two years (I got the book almost new in 2000 originally) it was about a affair the writer had behind his wives back. Oops. Either way, the use of language has a slightness that always pulls me back into poems whenever I am feeling blank or thinking I’ve had enough.