The Bits In Between

By Neil Arnold

The Bits In Between is a selection of poems documenting my first year in Bristol. It explores a myriad of emotions and the joy of video games, you know, the stuff I'm all about.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781326890674

Book preview

The Bits In Between

The Bits in Between

Neil Arnold

All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the permission of the author and associated artists. 

Copyright © Text Neil Arnold 2016

ISBN 978-1-326-89067-4

For my Dad, a man who taught me respect, diligence, goodness and most importantly he taught me to be me. He gave some of himself to allow that to happen. I will forever be grateful for that.

Thank you.

Foreword

‘Aye up. That seems an adequate beginning. A greeting I’ve used for many years. Let’s start at the beginning, introductions and explanations, also a little justification. The Bits in Between is an anthology of poetry I have written over my first year in Bristol.

Some of you reading this will know me, some won’t. By the end of this anthology you’ll probably have a good idea of what I’m about. And most likely an almost uncomfortable amount more knowledge of me than I do about you. But hey, that’s what you get when you put something like this out for consumption. I’m willing to brave it if you are.

So, I moved to Bristol at the beginning of 2016. I moved without a job and was kindly put up by a dear friend and their flat mate (now just as dear). That dear friend was the reason for me making the jump down to Bristol in the first place (after many years of them trying to persuade me and me being my usual stubborn self and scoffing at the idea. Milton Keynes has everything a person could need right? Right?). Luckily I found a job quickly and even luckier found that all three of us could coinhabit a space where I slept on the floor. This time of change opened opportunity for new experiences, people and places. And, as is evident as you read on, inspired me to write. It invigorated me to write more poetry.

I wrote a few poems and read them to my house mates (I managed after a couple of months to upgrade, not only from floor to bed, but also from flat to house). After a few more I realized I needed to put them out into the world, mainly out of fear. If not they would probably never be heard or read. I was proud of them. I wanted to share them. To take the stage without taking a stage. To make a grab at something out of a little arrogance and vanity before slinking back out of the limelight to where I usually reside (or at least try to reside).  

I hope you enjoy this anthology,