I have been scribbling for a long time now . I first began to write verse when I was about nine years old . Mostly on odd scraps of paper which I hid from my parents , for I was ashamed to have them know that I indulged in what my father called useless things . They were silly little verses , and
none of them have survived . My mother once found some bits of paper and asked what they were . I said they were nothing and she threw them away . My father moved house in the 1960's and in the cleanup resulting from that , all remaining bits of my papers were thrown away . This included some old
school books and notes on various hobbies such as model aeroplanes and radio (wireless we called it in those days) .

I joined the army and continued to write in a desultry sort of way , keeping such work for a little while and then throwing it away as I was posted from station to station . From what I can remember of it , this work was naive , immature and bad . It richly deserves its fate . During my time in the army I soldiered in Germany , the Middle East , and parts of Africa . During my service abroad I began to write a few things that (I thought) were better than my previous efforts . I have been able to save a few of my papers from those times , mostly serious technical work such as notes for various courses and a few essays (attempts at self education) . Along with these were a small quantity of verse . While in the army , and a single soldier in barracks , I began to be more serious in my studies and in the extra time I could find I became more serious about writing verse and the study of esoteric philosophy , making
some progress in each of these things . I left the army in 1972 and up to that time my output of verse was low and sometimes at a standstill . However I did manage to write some verses that were not too bad . After leaving the army I went abroad to teach technical subjects in the training college of the Royal Saudi Air Force . I was still writing verse between intervals of
inactivity and managed to produce some verse that I have kept , and a great deal that I have destroyed . I retired from work for medical reasons in 1988 and came to live on the Hebridean Island of Vatersay where the quiet pace of life suits me . In
these subsequent years I have written more verse on a variety of subjects , even some on Zen philosophy . Currently my output is rather higher than it has been in the past . Why this should be so I do not know . It may be that I write better in quiet surroundings and in retrospect . Anyhow , here is
some of it , warts and all . These verses are extracts from a body of work that extends over three volumes . I do not claim it is good verse , but I think it is readable .

E . Nixon