You’ll have gathered by now, if you’re not a first time visitor, that I do plain straightforward writing in clear, easy to follow English. I’d happily adopt another style if it worked for me,and I thought there were others who wanted to read it, but, as I expressed in the poem Voice; published on here before anyone was actually reading this, I feel like I’ve found what works for me. Voice has had 19,000 plus reads on Wattpad so hopefully I’m getting it right for others too.
The truth is I had any pretentions to florid, discursive writing knocked out of me in a working career where ‘writing’ was a key part of what I did but for a very different audience. The ‘writing’ I did to earn a living was far from being creative. I wrote reports for decision makers.
My work was expected to be clear, concise and to the point. Brevity was the order of the day and the instruction was never to use a long word where a short one would do. We would never ask people to ‘peruse’ documents we suggested that they should ‘look at’ them.
One of the missions I was given was to re-write the local authorities contract conditions in plain English. The lawyers hated me for it!
My ambition to write the great English novel is never likely to be realised. The Next Big Thing, as the poem of that name expresses, is unlikely ever to be written but ‘verse’, comes very naturally to me. I’m not always sure I can glorify it with the word ‘poetry’ but that is for others to judge and worry about. My mission, as the tag line has it, is to entertain. I’m sometimes seeking to entertain with a purpose but I try to express what I am saying as clearly and effectively as possible.
Todays poem, Red Lines, is a tribute to the manager who honed my writing skills with a liberal helping of red ink.
Red Lines
The report you have written
Is ‘basically fine’
The words are yours
But the ideas are mine.
I’ve covered it liberally
With red ink
Please rewrite
But don’t rethink.
I’ve altered all your capital letters
Crossed out all the “howsoevers”
It’s punchy now
All bullet points
You can rewrite again
If it disappoints.
Writing can be a struggle sometimes but there’s always that dream that keeps us going.
Andrew Green's Poems 