I have lived albeit briefly in America and visited the States affectionately known as such here in the UK ... and even got to see New York over the time it takes to chalk up 20 years full time work .... and full time teaching in the UK ... and I had never imagined for a moment
that I would be published as a poet in New York ...this very famous international city.
I have met many New Yorkers and a lot of people I knew held to the notion that they were from Ireland and their roots were from Ulster ... I paid little attention to it as personally I was not involved in their cultural exchanges, until recently.
A big American Company called Noble House Empire State Building New York USA contacted me and invited me to write a poem for free for their poetry anthology
Centres of Expression. At that point in time I happened to be attending a College
Reunion at Winchester all about the closure of the College and the installation of a New University .. none of which really affected me since I was firmly entrenched at the University of Southampton from my days as a graduate and post graduate and qualified state teacher in 1981 ... and modest to a degree ... my erstwhile position as Head of Department of Business Studies in 1981 ... but I fell in line with this request as I had the morning off and was having a black cup of coffee at the Wessex Hotel, and jotted down the lines to the YES poem ...
Imagine my surprise and delight when the US Firm Noble House NY emailed and wrote to me to say they had accepted my poem and it is now published in America in this book entitled : Centres of Expression.
I was absolutely thrilled and must admit to something of a first here for me to be published in the great city of New York in the USA. I was so excited that I felt it necessary to send it off to HRH The Prince of Wales and their Charities to include his new wife :
The Duchess of Cornwall. they wrote me a wonderful letter thanking me for this great little poem .. YES.
Excellent stuff ... in Centres of Expression publishers: Noble House Empire State Building New York, NY. USA... keep on reading the blogs ..