36 Exposures: Poems for life, love, people, and places by Tom Gamble

"""Gamble's poetry is humorous, philosophical and honest. His poetry lifts you up, and slams you down with just as much enthusiasm. This is accomplished work."" Paul Raine, editor of Poetic Review. This is poetry. Without academic rules and guidelines. Words that can be plucked from life and held up to shine as something unique, and a gem that perfectly captures a truth. The truth of the matter is that we all write poems. At school we write poems. When we first fall in love we write poems and later on for other loves too. When someone we cherish decides to leave the stage, we write poetry. When in hard and difficult times we do the same. And sometimes, right in the middle of thought or conversation, we surprise ourselves by the sudden conjuring up of a turn-of-phrase that stands out above the rest as being rhythmic, maybe rhyming, and certainly very pertinent. Poetry is a stolen five minutes away from the crowd, the office, the computer, the phone, the expectations and the obligations. It's like a quick and passionate kiss with a love - exciting, reassuring, rebellious and true. It pierces the heart of the wider world but strangely is pointed directly at you. There indeed is a future for it in our busy, uncertain times. So weigh anchor, look around you, share a glimpse, a thought, and a moment that maybe you have already lived and never dared to capture."