Hi welcome to my poems and music – I am Pete the Poet (The Hard Bard) I post my poems, other poets I like, some articles, books, gigs / events and info about poets, writers, songwriters etc.

I was released from school in 1967, the year I started to write poems, inspired by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg et al and the lyrics of mainly psychedelic music.

I have been writing poems since the age of 16 years, but many of them have been lost due to a philistine family setting – because I was seen as “weird”! I wrote them by hand in old A4 sized diaries and attempted to type some on an old fashioned contraption called a typewriter!

By 1969 I was well into Underground Music and read the works of many poets, especially those who appeared in the Penguin book Children Of Albion – Poetry of the Underground in Britain published in 1969.

Ever since certain musicians/ buskers, music (I like in particular Frank Zappa, the Mothers of Invention and Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band). I include parts of works by compassionate activists and free-thinkers and encourage people to express their actions and ideas as part of their poetic identity. I encourage people to talk about their own poetry, poets they like, their likes in music,

SINGERS AND GROUPS I HAVE SEEN ON STAGE

My very first experience of hearing live blues was Howlin’ Wolf at the King’s Head Romford. White and Collinson of Dr Feelgood went to see Howlin’ Wolf at the same gig and Howlin’ Wolf had a profound effect on them both, as he did on me because he blew me away. They said Wolf had inspired them to form their own group.

I mostly went to small Live Music venues such as The Village (Dagenham), Wakefield Arms (Epping), seeing Free, Taste (with Rory Gallagher), Savoy Brown, Chicken Shack, Spooky Tooth, Brian Auger and the Trinity, Deep Purple, Edgar Broughton Band, Vandergraaf Generator, Procol Harum, – etc.

I love going to live gigs to see Yes, Jethro Tull, Nice, Emerson Lake & Palmer and attended a few Festivals – the best of which was 1970 Bath Festival (in Shepton Mallet Somerset), (Led Zeppelin,  the Mothers of Invention, Johnny Winter, Donovan, Pink Floyd, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Airplane, etc. and I include the lyrics and recordings of some of my favourite bands / singers.