About
UNLEASH YOUR DREAMBEAST!
My name is Mark Bird (aka DreambeastPoems).
I am a teacher and children's poet. My first picture book, Halloween Date From Hell, was published in 2022. One of my most successful poems is The Full Stop Day about leaving primary school which has been used in schools all over the world.
Early Inspiration
I fell in love with poetry when I was about three or four. My parents were working class and books were rare around our house in the 70s. However, for some reason, we had a tatty copy of A.A. Milne’s, “Now We Are Six” and a huge compendium of nursery rhymes, both of which I read endlessly. Mum introduced me to the library and the first book I took out was “THE CAT IN THE HAT.” Later, in the early 80s, the film The Outsiders introduced me to Robert Frost who I have loved ever since.
Writing
I have written poetry all my life but when in 2007, my partner and I became expats in Buenos Aires and Amsterdam respectively, I began taking my writing more seriously. However, at the time I did not embrace social media, decided I didn't have what it takes and gave up writing for a number of years.
In 2019, I started posting my poems on Twitter and out of the blue, two things happened almost simultaneously: Gill Education emailed asking permission to use my poem, ‘Sparks’ in their ‘Over The Moon’ series and Brian Moses emailed to say he liked the poems I had been posting. He made me ‘Guest Poet’ on his blog and added me to his mailing list. Since then, Brian has included me in several mini-anthologies published on his blog. Brian has become a bit of a mentor, offering advice and encouragement as my poetry career has developed. I have not stopped writing since; I write every single day.
Work Published
Since 2019, I have been published in:
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The Caterpillar
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Poetry For Good (My poem ‘Schoolsick’ was highly commended in the competition celebrating key workers in lockdown)
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Move Me Poetry
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My first picture book, ‘Halloween Date From Hell’, illustrated by Chris White, was published in 2022. The book received excellent reviews, including from authors Brian Moses, Colin West, Coral Rumble, Debra Bertulis, Sarah Ziman, Attie Lime and Ian Billings. It even made Amazon's top 10. My ex-pupil (model, author, film director, actress and entrepreneur) Lily Cole sent a review to help promote the book. Former Blue Peter presenter, Yvette Fielding, also reviewed it. I was a guest on BBC London Radio to promote the book