Gregory Wm. Gunn Biography

My modest genesis as poet began by basically hearing melodies in my head then vocally projecting whatever lyrics occurred to my then-6 year old mental capacity. During this stage of development, the inquisitive, wide-eyed youngster was occupied with pastels, graphites, watercolours, etc., rendering mainly natural landscapes, but sometimes delving into areas of abstraction. Eventually, transcribing poetic thoughts onto the page began around the age of 12. Always experimental, my scientific curiosity wondered about how everything operates, to the extent of dismantling mechanical and electrical objects, then reassembling them, resulting in many a failure, however, gaining valuble knowledge in the ongoing process.

Basically self-taught in an array of disciplines including music, philosophy, physics, and foreign languages.

At age 15, with a few of my classmates, I ventured into the rock 'n' roll arena, and we four formed a band with yours truly being, to varying levels of success, bassist/lyricist/singer.

The gradual transformation into a full-fledged wordsmith transpired in my early 20's.

A graduate of Fanshawe College as an electronics technician, I had worked in that field of endeavour for 25 years,9 of which were as co-proprietor of Star Tek Electronic Services. The majority of my time now is spent writing, mostly of the poetic nature, but am finally pursuing other forms with a view now to write 'The Great Canadian Novel.' Are there any? Just jesting, folks.

Website: http: //www.geocities.com/jkandromeda/gregorywilliamgunn.html

Favourite classic poets: Edgar Allan Poe, Sylvia Plath, Stephen Spender, Wallace Stevens, Dylan Thomas, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Hart Crane & Marianne Moore.

Favourite novelists: John Steinbeck, Hermann Hesse, Charles Dickens, Edna Ferber, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells & Robert Louis Stephenson.

Favourite pop/rock musicians: Led Zeppelin, Cyndi Lauper, REM, U2, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Doors, Rush, The Who, Elton John and Green Day.

Favourite decomposers...sorry, couldn't resist that one, that is, composers: Wolfgang (Gangsta) Mozart, Ludwig (The Wigmeister) von Beethoven, Sergei (Rocky) Rachmaninoff, and Gustav (Gloomy Gus) Mahler.

Favourite artists: Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Pierre Auguste Renoir, and Claude Monet.

Favourite movies: Skyscraper Souls, City Lights, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Spellbound, Dr. Zhivago, East of Eden, Any Marx Brothers' film of the 30's & 40's, The Apartment(1960) , and The Man Who Would Be King.

Favourite quotes:

'What's wrong with the way I talk? I'll have you know I speak the Queen's English, not the one across the pond,59th Street's version.'

'What it means for me now is when I go to Mickey D's, I can buy more than just a fish burger.'On becoming famous.

...Cyndi Lauper, singer/songwriter.

'The ultimate human form of diplomacy, I surmise, would have to be, in my most humble of opinions, of course, the art of permitting someone else to have YOUR way, then invariably not take any credit for it.'

...from my late night notebook scribblings.

'Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.'

...John LeCarré.

'As soon as one is unhappy, one becomes moral.'

...Nicholas Catanoy, Poet & Aphorist.

'One trouble with being efficient is that it makes everybody hate you so.'

...Bob Edwards, Journalist.

Piss offs: xenophobes, bigots, racists, homophobes, sexists, egoists, plagiarists, and judgmentalists; moreover, over-paid athletes whose celebratory grandstanding is downright childish.

My other interests include music & art appreciation, astronomy, the history of the cinema, gardening & sleeping 'perchance to dream'.