Poetry Poetic verse Charlotte Harding gets inside the brain of an Eastbourne poet B efore being a poet Laurie Wilkinson’s previous career saw him work for 30 years in psychiatry, and has earned him the nickname The Psychy Poet. Laurie grew up in Walthamstow, East London leaving school at 15 with no qualifications. “I had wonderful parents but we were very poor,” he explains. “We were always laughing, joking, singing and quoting bits of verse and sayings. “I have always loved the written word and literature. “In my teens in the 1960s I sang with groups for whom I wrote songs/lyrics and it carried on from there really.” Adding that he used to write work colleagues ditties he wrote his first formal poem in 1999. It tailed off until 2012 when he says he started to write prolifically. Seven books and about 500 poems later Laurie focuses on four themes – romance, humour, reflection and tragedy. Up to 40 per cent from each sale of his books goes to charity Help for Heroes, which works to provide better facilities for British servicemen and women who have been wounded or injured in the line of duty. “When my first book was published in 2014 my son was in the Army, deployed in Afghanistan, 106 April 2020 (he is out and all fine now),” Laurie explains. “So I thought if I could sell a few books I could donate to Help for Heroes, who are wonderfully appreciative and energetic with their care. “I raise money now for the charity from personal poems commissions for people, stalls, reading gigs, after meal/ groups talks. “I get an amazing response from people who say they didn’t like poetry before but resonate, cry, laugh etc at my work and say it touched on hidden feelings and their everyday lives. “Also I find it is therapeutic for me as if something annoys or makes me laugh etc it gets a poem. “I find much of my inspiration from life and people in it, observations I have made, things that make us cuss, laugh, cry, love and live.” With so many published poems it does beg the question if anything hasn’t been used. “No I don’t think I have ever written something recently I not used,” he smiles. “It is annoying to me I used to make up bedtime stories for my son (now 38) I never kept.” Laurie adds that book eight is half done, and with titles of previous books include Life Scene in Verse, Poet Reveals All and Poet Reflects Your World so it will be interesting to see what the next instalment brings to the table. To view Laurie’s work, visit www.psychypoet.com