Jonny Blair Poetry: My Collections are Coming, Decadely

“I write this alone on my bed. I’ve poisoned every room in the house” – Richey James Edwards.

It was in Northern Ireland growing up in the 1980s that I discovered pencil and paper, or pen and paper. I discovered writing and it was brilliant. I also did some drawing, but it was writing that won my creative war…

“The pen is mighiter than the sword” – Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

I just loved writing. I could write anything I wanted to write. I had freedom to do that, so I did it. What did I write? You really won’t have time to read the list of what I wrote, or to ever read everything I have written. I won’t even have time to write everything I have actually written!! And yes that does make sense to me. Some of my early writing was

• fake football news
• fictional children backpacking
• quizzes on world geography
• love poems
• songs that I thought were worthy of being recorded
• lists of things I saw in a shop
• dreams I had

I have been a writer since the day I knew how to write. Luckily, I kept most of my writing from the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. Sadly some of the 1980s stuff and the early 1990s stuff will have been destroyed, disintegrated or lost.

However as a project in 2023, I plan to start to release my older writing works. Aside from my travel blogs and football writing, my poetry and creative stuff will be released. Already written, but not yet sorted, edited and released, I have –

• 2,000+ poems
• 12 books
• 1,000+ blog posts

Most of them will never see the light of day but as I get older I need to have this all shown – remember writing is EASY. It’s the editing, typing up and releasing that is the hardest. I only ever write poetry on PAPER with a PEN or PENCIL. I can’t write it on a computer first time, no chance because they are written out in the world, in the moment, on my journeys…here’s a small sample of some of my written words and poems –

My earlier poetry from 1990s, 2000s and 2010s is better organised – it’s in clear collections, at times I even noted exactly where and when I wrote them. My newer stuff I just wrote on the move and fired it intill a plastic pocket to shelve them and work on them later…I’ll release them decadely, starting with the 1990s.

I wrote these all over the world, in work, on buses, on planes, in airports, in cafes, in bars – anywhere. Nowhere was off limits and some were written during an illegal deportation, arrest, questioning and imprisonment on those journeys in days gone by. I was inspired by anything and everything – the gust of wind, a toilet flush, a heroes quote, a football commentator, a politican’s speech, a dog at a bus stop. I have no limits to the writing and will never stop. I’d need two or three of me to get this all done and sadly I have to do it all myself – nobody can help me as they would need to have my mind to understand all this. I don’t have a soulmate or a girl for life. I found her a few times and she betrayed my trust so now I’m alone with my pen.

Here’s one of my poems from May 1998 which will feature in the first collection, DARK IN THE SUN⚫☀️

Collection – DARK IN THE SUN, poem FOUR

4.A Switch Turned Off (Jonny Blair, May 1998)

This is a poem all about ambition, wanting to be bigger and better but feeling that you are just a face in a crowd looking at the sky but not progressing. There’s a certain aspect of sentimentality about this and religion plays a big part too like we are looking for an answer from God. It is about something possible that is not currently happening because a switch is turned off, part of that process is currently not happening. I stole the title from a night in work years ago when I was in the room and my colleague turned off the switch. It was all too easy to write.

The world is an empty stage
My life is below its age
But I’m too superstitious
To predict my ambitions

I look to the stars to pass the hours
But all that I’m worth, is a soul on earth

I might be shouting out loud
But I’m just a face in the crowd
Looking up at heaven with a conclusion but no method
Looking up at heaven with a conclusion but no method

The world is an empty stage
My life’s on its final page
But I’m too pessimistic
To be on heaven’s listing

I look to the moon to quench the gloom
But all that I’m worth is a baby at birth

I might be shaking the ground
But I’m just a face in the crowd
Looking up at heaven with a conclusion but no method
Looking up at heaven with a conclusion but no method

I might be wearing the crown
But I’m just a face in the crowd
Looking up at heaven with a conclusion but no method
Looking up at heaven with a conclusion but no method

I may be shouting out loud
But I’m just a face in the crowd
Looking up at heaven with a conclusion but no method
Looking up at heaven with a conclusion but no method

As it is January I usually use this month to go through all my writing dreams. I hope I can progress in 2023 and get these finally released. I could do with a superb secretary but I don’t know anymore if anyone is ever able to understand it.

“You’re really lovely, underneath it all” – Gwen Stefani.