Member of the anarchic Barrow Poets who also wrote prize-winning children's verse
The poet Gerard Benson, who has died aged 83, published 10 volumes of poems and prize-winning collections for children; an autobiography, Memoirs of a Jobbing Poet, is to be published this summer. When I founded Poems on the Underground, Gerard was my ally, along with a fellow "Barrow Poet", Cicely Herbert. We worked together closely for almost 30 years, offering a wide range of poetry to a mass audience. He believed passionately that the arts should be accessible to all.
Earlier this year, Gerard recorded his poems for the digital Poetry Archive, opening with a typically wry sonnet headed "Beginning":
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