DEREK HEALY

I grew up in Cheltenham at the foot of the Cotswold Hills and now live in Great Malvern, the other side of the Severn Vale. I started to write poetry in the 1970s but, as  with many an aspiring poet, my output was limited by the pressures of working life and a fragile self-confidence. Taking a degree in English literature probably, on balance, didn't help.

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A few years ago I was lucky enough to take early retirement (from a career in mental health social care) in my mid fifties, and since then my life as a poet has taken root and flowered. I like to look at serious themes, sometimes humorously, and humorous themes, often seriously, both in traditional and free form styles. I would say that Philip Larkin has been the most pervasive influence upon my style and approach.