Just Trying to Make Sense of it All

by Alan Spence

This is not a book of poetry, just a collection of my ramblings on a range of topics that happens to be written in rhyme. I have always written rhymes for as far back as I can remember. I don't know why, but it just felt right. Writing in rhyme somehow helps me to clarify and order my thoughts, deal with difficult emotions, and occasionally entertain my friends and family. I mostly write about things that impact my life or that hurt me, provoke a reaction from me, or sometimes just make me feel that life is truly a wondrous adventure with an ever-changing plot. People tell me that some of the things I write about are common to a lot of people, but it was never my intention to comment on other people's lives. What I write is really just a series of personal thoughts about people, events, and feelings in my own life-if they strike a chord with you, then I am glad.

100 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2012

About the author

Alan Spence (born 1947) is a Scottish writer and is Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen, where he is also artistic director of the annual WORD Festival. He was born in Glasgow, and much of his work is set in the city.

Spence is an award-winning poet and playwright, novelist and short-story writer. His first work was the collection of short stories Its Colours They are Fine, first published in 1977. This was followed by two plays, Sailmaker in 1982 and Space Invaders in 1983. The novel The Magic Flute appeared in 1990 along with his first book of poetry, Glasgow Zen. In 1991, another of his plays, Changed Days, was published before a brief hiatus. He returned in 1996 with Stone Garden, another collection of short stories. In 2006, The Pure Land, a historical novel set in Japan, was published by Canongate Books, and is based on the life of Thomas Blake Glover who is immortalised in the story of Madame Butterfly.