"To empathise with my poetry it is important to lay aside the logical mind and feel your way through my work with your soul, your heart.

For example, the title poem captures that sense of "YES!!" that can riot through our frames. It is a sudden onset of happiness, what one writer described as absurd good news'.

Symbolism is everywhere in my book.

Derek Fanning

Exempli gratia: the "lady in the long white robe" symbolises my lust for women and sensuality; it also represents beauty. The great mound of branches bursting into flame equals the sublime energy that exists at the core of the universe.

In Autumn 2 my soul is again singing with the sense that there is a Creator revealed in the beauty of the autumnal forest; and that this Creator equals Love. The second stanza of the same poem also touches upon the Outsider theme. An Outsider is a dreamer, a person who listens to the vision of his imagination and wishes to transmute society into a better existence. (This theme is magnificently explored in Colin Wilson's 'The Outsider').

'A Vision' describes an intense mystical state, which is something that we have also all felt. It is the sheer "Yahoo!" of cresting the slope and witnessing the unfolding of the beautiful landscape beneath.

Again, the 'silky leaves of snowy blossom' symbolises innocence, purity, compassion.

'A Brief Return to an Industrial City' represents a dissatisfaction with modern society and a wish for a higher form of life..

"The Gunman" is a story which is defending hunting. It is politically incorrect to defend the branches of this pastime and I have even been called sick or evil. These are epithets which most hunting men will be accustomed to.

However, those who are anti hunting are missing the way life is: in nature hunting and being hunted is all part of God's plan. Cats kill mice and foxes kill hens. Therefore there is nothing wrong with Man participating in God's plan.

Many of my stories deal with people who are on the edge. In "The Man Who Was Happy", John O' Shea falls over the edge and commits suicide. The fundamental reason for this suicide is the wrong attitude to existence. If he had paid attention to Rilke's advice then he would have been alright: "To Praise in Spite Of". "

Derek Fanning June 2004