Here is an introduction to what I am!

i am a writer!
three books,
thirty histories
one short story
some poems
entries in encyclopaedia
articles in magazines and
in newspapers
and a novel (unpublishable)

i put one word in front the other
and hope that they make sense
not that there’s much money init
enough for a cup of coffee
once a year

writing is not how
i make my cash
to get the lucre
i edit the works of others
it pays well and
i have the satisfaction
of
from chaos
producing order

books and journals
proceedings and academic papers
hopeless translations into
what purports to be my mother tongue
all are grist to my mill

you will find my name
“Tom Roach (Ed.)”
in obscure places and
on publications gathering dust
filling the back shelves
of archival libraries

it is fun and i have done it
wherever i have lived
seeing the sights and sounds
and more
of the middle east
of africa
and of ancient india

not bad for one who started work
labouring in the forests
of far northern scotland