Martin Cook was born into an army family before World War II. Semi-educated in England after a rare hip disease, he wore a calliper for eighteen months. He went to Dragon School and Bromsgrove School. Originally, he aimed to go into the army himself but rebelled when his parents divorced and his mother died a year later. However, he had an early call-up and commanded a platoon during the EOKA crisis in Cyprus.

Later he planted tea for a while. He went into international marketing and advertising with intermittent breaks when he sold pensions, Bibles from door to door, and wrote a novel while working as a night watchman.

In the last twenty years of his working life, he ran centres for disabled people between the ages of 19 and 98. He retired onto the nectar of poetry.

He has had many poems and the occasional short story published in the small magazines, such as Acumen, Brittle Star, The Journal, Magma, Other Poetry, Poetry Monthly, Poetry Nottingham, Seam and Staple.

Interests include literature, art, classical music, mythology, history, sociology and nature.

He fell in lust, then love, over fifty years ago. He’s still married to the same girl. Six children, fourteen grandchildren. Nuts.

Poetry publications:

• Mackerel Wrappers HappenStance, 2007

Links:

• A number of poems and at least one short story can be found in the poetry library’s magazines archive.

• A review of a performance for Toddington Poetry Society by Frank Batt can be found here.