As a young man the word poetry seemed to conjure up lyrical 'bardologists' tramping across Hampstead Heath in open sandals and with dewy eyes celebrating spring's first appearance of a crocus. Of course the reverse is true, Dylan Thomas and T.S. Eliot could hardly be defined by such a description. Poetry is an intense form of expression and allows one to explore, in depth, whatever subject you choose to write about by paying homage to it. It can heal wounds and raise alarm bells when you feel the compulsion to do so. My poem for the victims of 9/11 in 'Requiem for Ground Zero' was the only way I could bring to the page those dreadful events. Poetry peels back the skin, then penetrates the soul.