Born in the summer of 1947, he had an average schooling, leaving before completing Year 9 . . . he was 14. It seems that he's always written poems of some sort; even in classes other than English. His was a pretty unspectacular childhood shared with his "older brother and two amazing people as my working/middle-class parents". By the time he turned 23, he'd had . . . "so many relationships, none of which really went anywhere. They were what they were". Then during 1970, "an remarkable young woman entered my life. At that time, she was singularly the most important person to me and, for the first time in my life, I was in love, grounded and happy about it". Sadly, on Friday, April 23, 1971, she passed away and he entered a phase of disbelief. He began writing poems about solitude, about her, and letters to her before deciding to publish his first book, 'Love is Sufficient', which included two of the letters. Richard's style of writing and how he presented the book, was influenced by the late American poet Rod McKuen, who wrote sometimes almost diagonally across/down the page. The book had a mediocre reception in Australia, but sold well in the U.S., where it was published. Richard said that one of the "great things during my youth was spending time at a dairy farm in Mittagong in the NSW Southern Highlands. I continued my relationship with the farm into my adulthood". In October 2017, after a 40 year hiatus, he published 'Consequences', another book on finding love, living love, and sometimes losing love. A character he's introduced is an 'attitudinal' blue heeler (kelpie) named Mr Hardy. Richard's writings were described in Chicago as warmly suggestive and softly sensuous, without being erotic. You can contact him at alexander6347@hotmail.com to give your critique or just to say "hi". He boasts that he will answer all emails.
