The World of John Richard Hewitt

Artist & Writer


Writing

Introduction

Writing became the way to express the monstrousness as well as the beauty of my life. I was, perhaps still am, a flamenco guitarist until it reached a ceiling that I couldn't go beyond. Then I went sideways and continued up with my writing. Art then became the definitive way to express it all. Now art and writing walk hand in hand.

I have dark, disturbing but also loving and inspirational poetry as well as an angry, funny, chilling novella. There are other works out there under different pseudonyms; if they are meant to find you, they will.

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Edgar

Edgar is an angry, tragic, comical, chilling, irreverent and at times blasphemous tale of an eccentric artist, a unique gallery and surreal encounters both in this world and beyond.

Edgar is an absurdist and surrealist novella that is a memoir as well as offering glimpses into an intriguing life and leaves space for the reader to ask, “who is talking to whom” and, “who, exactly, is Edgar?”

Due to the language and themes explored, Edgar is recommended for a mature audience.

After a simple dinner with good wine, I’m ready to commune. The meditations are profound as wave after wave of passion runs through me; Leviathan is kicking up a glorious storm, and I am drenched in peaceful rage and rageful peace.
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Tales From The Boneyard

This book of poetry is a journey into - and out of - the trenches of life. From the depths of anguish to moments of clarity and healing this collection touches on religion, family and more. Yet even here, there is respite when it became clear that what we have been taught about the 'evil one' is propaganda and distortion and that the battle of good vs. evil, light vs dark is unwinnable as the Gods of the Old religions were transformed into the devils of the new.

This book you hold is a boneyard, full of remains; skeletal sentences fused together with pain and joy, matter and antimatter, the light and the shadow of it all.
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Wolf Mountain

This second book of poetry continues on from, Tales from the Boneyard. It is a book of that emphasises healing and renewal as well as the occasional dark memory. Sometimes landing on solid ground after liberation can bring moments of anguish as one begins to integrate back into a worldly experience after the lofty heights of otherworldly travel. But here, in the bricks and mortar of life, is where the true test of recovery takes place. Here is where one must breathe in healing and exhale gratitude; one must fight the good fight with all your might but this time our armour shall be of light, our shield shall be a full heart and our sword shall be an open hand.

The sound you made
when I covered your back
exploded my heart,
and I was going to miss
you as I dissolved
into my own nightshade;

(till morning, my love).
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Bookends

This is a sensory library of micropoems supported by two poems, at the beginning and at the end: the bookends for this collection. Each micropoem is a book in itself, and one hopes that the reader can pick and choose and lose the self into these microcosms of life. They are vignettes of love and loss; health and dis-ease; pain and joy yet all a part of a full spectrum of existence.

I'm no longer afraid of the dark; I wear it like a familiar overcoat, its pockets filled with moon-crystal and the finest jasmine...
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Distress Signal

This book is a single poem placed into sections that have no time line and thus time-travel backwards and forwards and ebb and flow and evoke the finding of true love and the agony of loss and the return to an undying friendship. It is a book of hope.

And we flew to mountains
and saw great peaks
but even here
she was forced to tears
by intrusive hospitality
that left us both tired
and the conspiracy continued...
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39 Love Poems

39 Love poems is a book of love poetry that attempts to put into words the feelings and emotions of unconditional love that often can only be left unspoken. There are moments of grief and loss in this poetry collection but also an enduring knowing that love is greater than the word and that true love is untouchable.

On moonstruck nights
do you venture out,
as I still do,
and breathe the cold
and swallow
the iced air
and watch shadow
cover star...
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Nepal: an accidental pilgrimage

This book of poetry of travel and adventure starts in the snowy, cold landscape of Devon, UK and takes the reader on a journey of 4,000 miles to a world of colour and dust; heartache and epiphanies; death and life. Here Nature is raw and real and the land melts into the sky and as one looks out into this new landscape, the inner world looks back; then there is no going home for Home will always then travel with you. Complete with photographs taken in Nepal and original artwork.

I step off the plane in Kathmandu
and the Himalayan breeze
descends to greet me
as if this was a homecoming.
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Beyond The Mountains: the collected poetry

This collection of poetry contains six books:

  • ‘Tales From The Boneyard’(formerly ‘Above The Cloud’)
  • ‘Wolf Mountain'
  • ‘Bookends'
  • ‘39 Love Poems’
  • ‘Distress Signal'
  • ‘Nepal: An Accidental Pilgrimage’

These six books of poetry express what could not previously be said and this new volume is a book of life; a memoir; an autobiography; (hopefully) an inspiration. In a thousand years these strange symbols may be studied for their true meaning.

I found my child-self
in a dusty bookshop;
he was hiding between pages
of magical verse.
He looked startled;
I won't lose him again.

from: 'Tales From The Boneyard'

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