When Hamish McFarlane was 12 years old, he wrote a poem. Not thinking it was very good, he threw it away, but his teacher at Avon Primary thought otherwise. Now, 20 years later, Hamish remembers that teacher, Kelly Strachan, and her praise. Her words made him realise he could write good poetry, he says.
Hamish continued writing when the mood and inspiration struck. He started work in a fruit shop, then as a commercial cleaner, followed by six years as a postie before he came to work as what he terms a freezer rat at Riverlands. All these jobs have provided him with a vast array of individuals who help inspire my poems.
Eventually, Hamish had more than 300 poems and thought that he may as well make a book. internetXlibris, which offers self-publishing, agreed to help produce a book of 70 poems. Each triggers a memory of a place, a person or a feeling. The book, Ethereality, is so named to reflect the fact that Hamish's poetry is his way of lifting himself out of this reality into another.
Hamish designed the cover, which is an optical illusion, combining the mountain and other things he loves.
Ethereality will be available from Paper Plus Stratford or from Hamish.