Although I'm an artist by profession, I like to write poems from time to time. It is something I always enjoyed at school and have kept up since. I attempt poems in two languages: English and Jèrriais. The English poems tend to be a bit more serious in intention, whereas the Jèrriais poems tend to be lighter and are often done for students or for events of one description or another. I also like to do translations, which is a satisfying intellectual challenge.

Since I write in more than one language, I quite like macaronic rhymes and swing between metrical and syllabic verse. Interestingly, my English poems are most often syllabic, whereas the Jèrriais poems tend to be metrical.

The English poems are influenced by the English metaphysical poets and by Geoffrey Hill, while my favourite Jèrriais poet is Élie.

In the past I was hooked on pantoums, but now I veer towards enjambement, internal rhyme and haikus. What tends to happen is that a rhyme, or a phrase, or a couplet, comes into my head as I'm walking or cycling from A to B (the rhythm of the activity and the exposure to the outside world brings it out, I find) and I then develop things from there.

I also like researching poems from the past, especially Jèrriais poetry which was published in newspapers and almanacs temps passé and for which I maintain an ongoing index. As I leaf through old newspapers, I also note down topical poems relating to events from Jersey history. Generally, I tend to think that it is a shame that the taste for vers d'occasion has passed - personally I need an occasion to spur me into writing something.