Poems from the Volcano was written in a challenging and painful time in my life. Originally, I had bought a normal diary from WHSmiths with the thought that I would write my daily diary. I was rather overweight though. I had done a Prevention of Type II Diabetes Programme remotely using Microsoft Teams and because of this programme I was losing weight.

From February 2022 I had also decided not to take any medication to treat my Bipolar Disorder. This had resulted in me not being able to sleep which resulted in me suffering horrific hallucinations. It was in the diary then I would write notes about my life. From the age of seventeen to twenty-two I had suffered different stages of mental illness which included, nervous tension, agoraphobia, schizophrenia. I was put in a psychiatric ward for four weeks. My life after that went into hell and out of sheer madness became obese.

I began writing Poems from the Volcano in the Spring of 2022 and concluded in the Autumn of 2022. It is about adolescence heartbreak and the writing is inspired by own battle with heartbreak and depression. Some poems reflect political themes such as Ukraine and Russia. There is a historical poem called ‘Tat’, about Tutankhamun, the Egyptian pharaoh. These poems were a joy to pen.