Biography
Ron Graves grew up in Spennymoor, County Durham. He did not excel at school, but his English teachers noticed something positive about him and would often just let him choose what he wrote about. After leaving school, aged fifteen, Ron worked in a hotel. Following an evening spent discussing the poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus with an historian, Peter Farrier, who frequented the hotel bar and with whom he had become friends, Peter suggested Ron should get back to his education. His parents agreed and Ron spent the next seven years studying, before becoming a student psychiatric nurse, because he wanted to find out what happened in a big mental hospital (‘the bin’). In total, Ron managed to remain a student for ten years. Since 1982, he has worked as a psychotherapist with teenagers and thinks the energy and honesty of adolescents make them the best people to be around. Due to the distraction of other pleasures, Ron’s earlier poetic efforts were often put aside and forgotten about. Since he changed to only working as a therapist for a couple of days a week, however, he has discovered the joy of revising poetry. When he remembers where he put it. Ron is a performance poet and the lyricist in a song-writing partnership with musician David Reid, a result of which is album, Lovely As Suspicion, released in 2016. That year also saw the publication of Hot strawberries, Ron’s first collection of poetry. He is, also, the Poet-in-Residence at The Draper's Arms Wetherspoon's pub, in Peterborough, where he hosts a monthly poetry night involving headline poets and open mic.
Samples
All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.
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