The Poetry of John P. Hindle

King Street Studios – Hidden Depths

Poet, John P Hindle: Statement

On first viewing John Baldwin’s work I was immediately drawn to the vibrant colours. There is a freedom in John’s paintings which inspired and guided my own creative thoughts, over the two years of working with him which really did allow me to run wild with my imagination. I felt there was no limits which allowed infinite contemplation on boundless ideas. The abstraction of the paintings allowed my ideas to form freely and write on themes of nature, spiritually, people, love, death, coming of age, survival and power and corruption. When I visited John at his studio home, I realised that his experiences of the everyday did not compare to the fulfilment and pleasure of art. This is something I share with him.

This is the poetry of John P Hindle. It contains his poems of the past twenty years on themes of nature, spirituality, mysticism, environment, landscapes, reflections of life and love. These poems have been published in a number of different poetry magazines. Sometimes art reflects life: this is something he can very much relate to. Having first been published when he was fifteen, it was something he got the bug for.

Inspired by Art

When he left home he was fortunate enough to have creative friends around him which led to collaborations with sculptors and painters, examining a range of themes. It was a time of experiment and influenced his approach to writing as he wrote on the themes and objectives of art.

Exhibitions

John has taken part in exhibitions and performing art events in London, at Toynbee Hall, art galleries, Synagogues and Churches, in Irvine, Scotland, in Liverpool for the Biennial, Durham, Carlisle, Lancaster and Morecambe.

Collaborations

The paintings and artwork by the artists he has collaborated with are on display in response to some of the poems. John has worked with many different artists before and after his MA in Creative Writing. He found the MA an enlightening time after working on very hands-on projects in the community for ten years. It allowed him to have a new focus. Since then he has been published in magazines and anthologies. Some of these poems are in response to local artists. He has been inspired by other artists from different parts of the world such as Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Hannah Frank. Over the years he’s been involved with a number of writing groups.

Hidden Depths

The Hidden Depths poetry pamphlet is available after a two-year collaboration and exhibition at King Street Arts in Lancaster of carefully selected paintings from acclaimed artist John Baldwin and a collection of poems in response to John’s paintings by John P Hindle. Drawing on his experience of John Baldwin’s paintings, John P Hindle’s poems have been inspired by the freedom of boundless ideas and guided by his own creative thought which has allowed infinite contemplation. The abstraction of the paintings allowed ideas to form freely on nature, spirituality, people, death, coming of age, survival and power and corruption.

The Hidden Depths poetry pamphlet is available to read at The British Library, National Library of Scotland, National library of Wales, The Bodleian Library Oxford University, Cambridge University and the Library of Trinity College Dublin.

Samples of some of the poems in the ‘Hidden Depths’ pamphlet can be heard being read out by the poet in the Recordings section. John got some advice from poet Ivor Cutler when he started writing, he said “Be original and be yourself”. He remembered thinking “I can’t be anything else, I can only be myself!”. But after years of contemplation, development meditation and stripping the hard wiring of the world away he found a lot of himself and a lot came to the surface. This is especially true in immersing himself in his most recent project with the abstract artist. He has found he has developed the spiritual side of his writing more and getting a better understanding of his struggle as a child. He was involved in an RTA and left in a coma. He needed to learn to walk, talk, write and feed himself again, something he felt he needed to hide due to social stigma. This is one of the reasons why he is so interested in putting his fingerprint on the world and telling his story. He has always used libraries and Churches as quiet places where he can find peace.

A Review section gives the thoughts of people who have read ‘Hidden Depths’. Soon after his MA he began his PGCE in Adult Education. This was a very interesting time but realising he didn’t have the time to concentrate on his writing and work in an educational setting he decided to become a tutor and teach people on a one-to-one basis. This allowed time for other projects such as the collaboration with a Scottish artist at The Harbour Arts Centre in Irvine, Scotland, where he shared his writing for the ‘All Washed Up’ exhibition based on natural debris of the coastline. This mirrored some of his previous writing in response to art from local artists inspired by Morecambe Bay.

A summary of the poet and his back story is given in the About section.