Poetic Reflections on Carlin Brian: A Special Tribe

My name is Brian Carlin, am a 53 year old Scot, living in Glasgow with my beautiful wife Susie. Married for 32 years, with two grown up kids , Cassie and Liam. I've been a psychiatric nurse for 25 years, mostl of that time caring for the elderly.

In my younger years played bass guitar and wrote lyrics in a band called Apes in Control, thus online I became apemanb (a play on the beefheart song title Ant Man Bee) and the blog became my Big Ape Diary.

What does the blog mean to me?

well I'm not the most gregarious of characters and it's a means of getting what I write out there and connecting with people

I started the blog about two and a half years ago, having been on twitter a while doin haiku, which kick-started the drive to write poetry again.

The first EVER poem I claimed to have written was a spike Milligan one about a Strawberry Mousse which got me plaudits from my schoolmates...never ever owned up to the plagiarism.

The first lyric I wrote was for a piece called Helmet which began:

He's got a helmet
And he's inside it
Writing inspirations?
Recreating memories of childhood
Trying to crystallize a particular image or feeling
Writing about the people I love
Occasionally trying to turn words into paintings or sculpture
What is good poetry for me?
The exact word for the exact feeling or thing.

In the truest rhythm of free verse, where I can feel the beating heart of the poem as I read it.

Revision? Never used to, but yes, all the time now...I've taken down about 300 pieces which I feel need reworked, as I've gotten to understand more about how I write and what I'm looking for. Tried writing prose pieces , and although they were ok, I find I have a different kind of energy than it requires, so no ,no fiction.

Favourite author/poet?

Knut Hamsun, Kurt Vonnegut , haruki murakami, D.H.Lawrence, Ezra pound, William Carlos Williams , Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Tom Leonard , to name but a few Favorite quote

"watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow" Zappa

Why support Jingle?

Because it has the unmitigated audacity to get out and do the necessary.

Because of what the community has become through its members, because nothing comes close to the club of friendship it is.

Future plans?

To feel I'm getting closer to capturing exactly what I think and feel in written form, to be happier with it, to connect.

That's all from me, the noo, Brian x :-)

Visit me at:

http://theprimate.wordpress.com/