Below is an article which first appeared on my employer’s website. My thanks to my fellow poet and colleague, Toby Wheeler for permission to reproduce the article together with his poem “Happiness”.
On Wednesday 10 February, Toby Wheeler and Kevin Morris will be reading a selection of their poetry. The event will also provide the opportunity for colleagues to read one of their favourite poems.
Here is a little background about Kevin and Toby.
Kevin has been writing poetry since 2012. His latest collection, “Lost In The Labyrinth Of My Mind” is available as a Kindle ebook. Kevin’s work covers a broad spectrum, ranging from poems about nature through to humorous verse.
Toby was first published at the tender age of 7 in a children’s collection of poems called ‘From a Secret Place’.
However he only started writing poetry seriously after graduating from university and completing a placement at Keats House in Hampstead.
His first collection of poems, “27 years, 27 poems” will be published for Kindle in April 2016.
Toby has also written a poem about OCD for the charity ‘OCD Action’ which is due to be released later this year by the charity as part of a collection of poems about mental health. He is now preparing to send poems for possible inclusion into other poetry collections to publishers.
Here is your chance to sample some of Kevin and Toby’s work.
“Raining” by Kevin Morris
“I awoke to the rain
drumming on my window pane.
Opening my lattice I let it in
the purifying water that washes away sin.
The hypnotic sound
of rain falling all around.
All my life I have listened to the rain.
The same drumming
of water coming
from the sky
falling on you and I.
The rain has no end
But you and I my friend
May listen for a while
Smile
then pass on by”.
‘Happiness’ by Toby Wheeler .
I think I’m happy, I don’t know,
What is it anyway?
Is it something beautiful, a calmness perhaps?
Or an acceptance, a thing we just know?
I think I might be happy,
I couldn’t say, I think I may be sad;
I think I may just be happy to be content,
Yes, content is perhaps enough for me;
Even if I found happiness,
How do I keep it?
And if I did, is it a thing you cannot hide?
For everyone I know who’s happy says so.
I think I may be happy,
I smile and laugh from time to time;
I hope that will suffice,
In trying to find that thing called happiness.
