IF ANYONE had told me, four years ago, that I would write and publish a book of poems, I would have laughed, says Finchampstead poet David Brown.
And yet – he is the author of a published collection, with a growing number of YouTube followers.
In November 2020 David had a stroke.
“It affected my word recognition and speech quite badly,” he said, “and I had to have speech therapy.
“The stroke association was marvellous; the care I had was brilliant, and gradually my speech came back.”
Chatting with David it’s impossible to detect, but he explains that speech is still sometimes quite difficult for him.
“I’m much, much better than I was,” he said.
Losing his voice through the stroke gave David time and space to explore other ways to communicate his thoughts and emotions.
And, to his astonishment, once he began to recover, he started writing poetry.
“I’d never written a word of poetry before then,” he said, “but somehow the words came.”
It began in mid 2021 after David started attending FBC (Finchampstead Baptist Church).
“I had a chat with Chris Simpkins the lead pastor here,” he explained.
“He asked me: ‘How do you think God sees you?’
“I told him what I thought.
“After he gently explained that I’d got it wrong, I thought about what he had said, and a poem came to me.
“I call it: ‘How God Sees Me’.”
The rest is history, and David has been writing poems ever since.
“Although I had something taken away from me with the stroke,” he said, “I feel that God gave me a lot more, and told me that I needed to use it.”
Initially, David says that he wrote only for himself, occasionally reading his poems to his family.
“Then I started reading them at the connect groups at FBC that I belong to,” he said.
“And I help run a stroke survivors group in Wokingham, so I read the poems there as well.
“That was fine, but gradually, a number of people said the poems needed a wider audience, and they asked if I had ever thought about publishing a book, or opening a YouTube channel.
“Frankly, I hadn’t – I’m really not tech-minded – but Nikk, my son, and my friend, Graham, offered to help me.
In July a YouTube channel was created.
Gaining over a thousand views in its first three months, David’s channel is still growing, with new poems constantly being added to the online collection read aloud.
“I was pleased that people seemed to really enjoy listening,” David said, “but they kept asking for something in black and white too, so I approached a couple of publishers.”
Two offered to publish the work, but in the end David self-published, and his collection of 40 poems came out in October.
But, having written at least that number more, he admits there may well be a second collection in the pipeline.
“People have responded very positively,” he said, “but this isn’t a money-making exercise.
“All profits from the book are going to The Alzheimers Society.”
What inspires David’s writing?
“I write about my relationship with God, or things that have happened in my life that I can now relate to in a different way,” he said with a smile.
“And I write about things that have happened to people I know.
“Some of them are comical.”
Losing his speech for a time has been life-changing for David.
And finding a new ‘voice’ and a new purpose has enriched his life.
“I like to think that all my poems are God-given,” he said.
“I hope that anyone who reads or listens to them will enjoy them, and that there will be special
words for them in some of the verses.”
Poems For a Time, by David Brown can be purchased at: amazon.co.uk
To hear his poems read aloud, search for Poems For a Time on YouTube.
