POETRY AND PROSE
Downloads of poems and prose are gathered under LISTEN AND READ at the bottom of this page.
POETRY
I’ve written poetry since I was 7 when I wrote a nice lyric about flowers for my Mother. Since then I’ve experimented with traditional forms, as well as less structured and innovative forms.
I have been featured poet at the Henley Arts Festival; read at the Henley Literary Festival, and have talked on the role of poetry in encouraging business creativity on Radio 5 Live. I published DREAMS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Selected Poems 1986 -1996 in 1996, together with a tape of poetry readings and musical performances.
My collections include: WAVE UPON WAVE OF DEMONS– a long poem built around the history and myths of Cambodia; WE USED TO SING – which is dedicated to the Cornish poet Charles Causley; THE GOLDEN ROAD TO UNLIMITED DEVOTION – a set of poems drawing on the life of the guitarist Jerry Garcia and FANUM, a set of 14 line lyrics based on Margaret Visser's great book THE GEOMETRY OF LOVE.
I have been working on my latest poem MESSENGERS since September 2005. The first volume 'Location. Location, Location' will be published later in this year in a special limited edition, designed by Catherine Dixon, one of the UK's leading typographers.
MESSENGERS takes its starting point from Dante’s Divine Comedy. In that work a living man walks among the dead. In MESSENGERS, the main character is blown up at Paddington station and then walks the world trying, initially, to find out “whodunit ?”.
MESSENGERS will be in three books. Each book has a different focus. Book one is basically written in conventional blank verse but keeps breaking out into other forms from very wild free verse and lyrics to prose. I use different typefaces to add a "design element" to each page. Poetry is for the eye as well as the ear.
Limited numbers of copies of my Selected Poems DREAMS AND RESPONSIBILITIES are still available, priced £ 5 plus p & p. Ring me on 07966 509390 or e-mail on ian.florance@btinternet.com to order a copy.
You can also contact me if you want to arrange a reading, with or without musicians.
PROSE
Following JUNGLE ADVENTURE and SPY STORY ( both written when I was about nine, the latter containing a very daring love scene ) I have written four novels and a number of essays and short stories.
My most recent novel is A GLASS ROPE. It takes place 40-60 years in the future. The world has changed in some respects but is the same in many others. A pedantic, middle-aged tutor’s rather mundane life is suddenly turned on its head by an ex-student. He begins to review his past and finds out that much of what he thought about it is a lie.
SCRIPTS AND DRAMA
I have written scripts with both Steve Bennett and Christopher Ring. The FAMILY SILVER, a play I wrote with Chris, was performed over three nights. Chris and I worked on:
NORMAL SERVICE: A TV sitcom based on a commuter journey to London.
CLEAN SHEETS: A comedy drama series about the relationship between an ex-hippie mother and her entrepreneurial daughter
LISTEN AND READ
Click on the links below to see pdfs of some of the things I’ve written
Messengers
>> Click here to read a section of this work in progress.
Poem for the Month
>> A recent poem THE STRANGE VOYAGE OF YOU AND ME. Click the title to read it.
A Glass Rope
>> Click here to read the opening A GLASS ROPE.
World War in Umbria
WORLD WAR In Umbria is a long essay on Italian art, religion, Iraq and a number of other matters.
>> Click here to read the opening
All poetry and prose is ©Ian Florance, All Rights Reserved except where indicated..
I’m happy for you to download and print one copy of these files for private reading. If you would like to receive full version of excerpted works do contact me. I am investigating publishing some of these works formally: let me know if you want to be kept updated. |
