Host Father Alan Cox talks to poet Michael Dante.
The Life & Work of Michael Dante
Michael Dante graduated in the 1990's gaining a Bachelor of Arts from Plymouth University. Afterwards, he went on to study a Master's Degree at Hull University in psychology and philosophy. In the mid 90's he worked as a model for DK Model Management. Since then, he has worked as a graphic artist digitizing images for clientele including Ford, Motorola and Ben Sherman. He has also spent time working in the theatre.
He has been writing poetry for more than a decade. Much of his work centers on the themes of madness, pain, deception, death, obsessive states of mind, cruelty, solitude, addiction, imprisonment, exile and mysticism. He says about his own work:
'My poetry is for the destitute and the insane. My work has a number of dimensions - spiritual, sociological, emotional, mythical and psychological elements as well as lexical and metrical components. A good poem should sing out on many levels, its rhythm should mirror both thematic and narrative. The best poems are easily apprehended by the intellect and instantly felt by the heart. Real life is the palette of the artist - his suffering is the suffering of humanity. In this way, the artist tunes into mankind and by doing so he sees his own soul as a reflection of the Divine. The poet taps into the Sacred - he is both a mystic and a philosopher. Only by exploring the feeling contained in the human soul does he come to know himself. This is the hardest profession of them all for he treads the lonely path of the heretic.'
Recently, Michael Dante has appeared in the West End reciting his poetry - it was here while reading his war poem Necromancer that Help for Heroes invited him to read at their London fund raising event. On World Poetry Day, Dante read with Planet Poetika to celebrate a resurgence in the modern poetic form. He regularly, performs with the Word Distillery. For two years, he ran a poetry show called Chinwag, which was held at Aberystwyth Art's Center. The show had a variety of award-winning writers taking part. Currently, he his working on a new book while regularly performing his work live.