Robert West was born in 1960 in Shoreditch, London and was brought up as the youngest of five boys by his mother after his father died when Robert was just seven years old. An interest in the arts began by going along to Hoxton Hall in the 1970s and his experiences at this arts and community centre encouraged him to decide to try and build a career in the industry. Following training at Rose Bruford College of Speech & Drama Robert went on to work professionally as an actor, writer, and director. Though his other roles, which have included paid work as a Children’s Entertainer, Football Coach and Creative Writing Tutor, have all provided as much excitement as the stage ever has. Like many others, Robert has written poems for pleasure for most of his life. Here he has gathered up the various scraps of paper and notebooks on which his poems have been written over the years and brought them all together in this anthology of his work. Each poem is accompanied by a short insight into the work. Robert has always sought to encourage others to have a go at things they might feel as being out of their reach. He hopes that this collection of poetry may encourage people to have a go at whatever they feel inspired to do. As Samuel Beckett once said, ‘Try again. Fail again. Fail better’.