James M Hazard (29/01/1960)

I was born and grew up in the east end of Glasgow.

I didn't come alive until I was sixteen, when I began my life as a musician and travelled, firstly in Scotland, then England and Germany. My early writings were mostly song lyrics that became prolific in Huddersfield with a rock band I formed in 1985. After a few years the band migrated to London, but didn't have the success I hoped for. In 1989, and still in London, I began to write poetry more and more, which seemed to stream  from head to paper at an alarming rate.

My inspiration and influence will always be my Muse, who loved me and left me, Julia Hember. I mention her name out of respect to her memory as she has been taken by leukaemia, June 1st 2003. Although we were not together long, she opened me to new things that have changed me, I will never forget all that she gave and shared with me. I am glad to have been part of her journey.

My poetry seems to reflect an inner turmoil that is regret and bitterness at no one and nowhere in particular. I do try to write of happier times and sometimes I succeed. My style I suppose is to write what comes from my head straight to paper as the poems almost always come fully formed, apart from spelling mistakes as I try to keep up with the flow. I like unusual rhyming sequences, grouping similar phrases in close proximity, but I suppose the overall style is freeform, open-ended. I think the feeling and image is more important than the rhyme.