Trev the Road Poet

Biography

Welcome to the profile and blog of Trev the Road Poet, said to be one of the UK's most prolific traveling poets, Trev, is pictured reading at San Benito Community Building, venue for the final event the closing Pachanga of the 2023 Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival. Real name Trevor Wainwright: Based in Castleford, West Yorkshire. Lives, Cares, Believes, Stubborn, Awkward, Argumentative, Controversial, all the good qualities of a poet, as in the poem "I Like", and not a bad bloke really. He says of himself: I started writing poetry about events in the Fire Brigade round about 1990, and still do when I get a good memory jolt of an event, later becoming a community based poet, I have written on a variety of subjects, not all of them popular including AIDS and ME, the purpose being to raise awareness and greater understanding. My poems on the subject have been published to worldwide acclaim, and have been well received by those involved in the illnesses. I have also been part of reading teams to raise awareness of the illnesses. I like writing poems about clever buggers getting their comeuppance and the underdog coming out on top. As can be seen in the poem Bobbing and Weaving which takes its title from a poem about a prostitute getting stabbed to death, supposedly humorous, in my version the female fights back and wins, and it is based on a true story as related to me by those who saw what happened, when they stopped laughing. I also enjoy performing my poems and others, and can think of no better tribute than when having read one of my poems at an event, someone asks me to read one of theirs. I have read in front of Bishops, MP's, Mayors, Councillors, in churches, theatres, cafes, pubs, outside in the streets, in parks, one of my greatest moments was to read war poetry on the streets of Castleford to highlight the need for humanitarian aid for the victims of the Yugoslavian civil war in 1995, aid which I delivered myself, two years later I would do the same for Kosovo. In 2004 I wrote a poem called African Anguish to highlight the plight of the people of Africa and to criticise the work done by the G8 Countries, it was at the time hailed as my greatest work and sold well providing life saving inoculations for hundreds of African children. I continued to write occasionally. In 2011 I used poetry as a means of therapy whilst recovering from a cataract operation, and using the stage name Trev Cas' Lad, I became an international poet taking part in the Austin International Poetry Festival and Lamesa Forrest Fest where at both festivals my Yorkshire accent wit and humour endeared me to many with a hope that I would come back. After the festivals I embarked on a tour of America eventually arriving at New York having driven 4,700 miles and wrote 88 poems with material for even more. This went on annually till 2020 during which time I continued to write and travel as one person said I was a poetic journalist. I added the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival to my itinerary in 2012, becoming a regular and favourite. I wrote and recited in Mexico in 2013 and The Holy Land in 2016 In 2014 I became a volunteer at Austin Wildlife Rescue, it was a great place for writing poems about I even did a booklet of poems to raise funding and awareness for them. In 2017 joined 5 Towns Radio, Castleford as a presenter and added poetry events to the community activity promos and interviewed poets live on air, in 2018 added Facebook live to it so they could be seen as well as heard. Also instead of celebrating National Poetry Day, 5 Towns Radio decided to make a week of it. Word went out and we received over 70 poems including some from Texas to play, I did 4 shows, one of them interviewing myself. 2018 to 2019 : I added Facebook live to my radio show for the interviews, as such listeners were able to see as well has hear the guests, this proved very popular, and increased listener figures. Again there was a tour of Texas in both years including having a recording of my work for a CD to be sold to raise funds for ME Research In Lamesa I helped establish a new event in, called the Earth Day Festival it will run every Earth Day weekend and in between be a community permaculture study centre. I also received an award for services to poetry in the Rio Grande Valley. 5 Towns Radio won an award for Best Community Group, we got the most votes from the public many of them from the poetry world. I also performed at The Ilkley Lit Fest my 3rd appearance at the fest was when I was picked for the annual open mic competition, and was Highly Commended for my updated rendition of Walkin' in Barnsley, I was really pleased. There was a moment of sadness too when I heard that my friend Don Sitton radio presenter for KPET in Lamesa West Texas passed away, I first appeared on his show in 2011, and with the exception of 2014 became a regular on his morning show during the Lamesa Festivals. We became good friends each of us looking forward to my annual visit I wrote a poetic tribute to him and sent it to my friends in Texas, and read it out at an open mic in Harrogate at the exact time his funeral was being held. It was also my 4th poem of my 2019 Tour Collection. 2018 ended with me I would set the Nativity and Epiphany in Castleford and giving it a modern setting. The American Gothic Rock Gospel Band Ministry of Angels provided some new music for the Castleford Nativity, readings from both went down well, particularly on my radio programme. Following on from having Jesus born in Castleford I decided to set the Gospel in Castleford, readings from this in my own style went down well with audiences, but I doubt they'd have gone down well with the church hierarchy. a new presenter on their local radio, we got on so well, the interviews went like a dream. My time in the Rio Grande Valley saw more good performances, and a chance to meet up with a student I had encouraged last year, she showed me her work and was pleased that I complimented her. I also spent a morning working voluntary at a Migrant Centre, there being no poetry, I went down well there too with my interaction. My accent was a hit with many, including one student who asked his teacher how he could learn to talk like me. . On the bright side there was an invite from Radio 4 to do an interview about the Yorkshire Dialect and my poetry done in it. I agreed thinking "fame at last". The interview went ahead and I was part of Tongue & Talk: The Yorkshire Dialect on Sunday June 16. I received some good comments and garnered another title: Trev the Dialect Poet. Shortly after mid June while waiting for something to happen at 5 Towns radio I contacted South Leeds Radio and was invited to join them, I recorded an hour long pilot show called South Leeds Classics it included poetry. It went well so I was invited to do more and did, they would go out on a Monday night and be repeated on the following Tuesday night. 5 Towns Radio finally got back on air on July 1st it would be July 14 before I did a live show due to other problems. Then it was decided that The Hut would bring its opening times into line with other council properties, which resulted in the end of my Sunday Classics programme as it fell outside of these hours. I changed it to 5 Towns Classics wi' Poetry and it ran for an hour, on the same style as South Leeds Classics. I also wrote a protest poem about how people look at the hideously disfigured having worked with them, it to went down a storm moving many almost to tears, bringing many compliments. Towards the end of the year I was invited to contribute to an open mic highlighting Mental Illness and PTSD I recited a trilogy I had written at a workshop in 2013, the first part being about going down with it, as I read it felt like I was living it, the same with parts 2 and 3 as with support the person gets well, it went down a storm. My final project for 2019 was to set 11 of my Christmas Poems to 11 Christmas songs which I did and they went out as a recorded programme on Christmas Day to great acclaim. 2020 to 2021 The year began slowly Texas was booked but nobody could foresee covid a pandemic which started in China and swept the world, the virus reached Europe and countries went on lockdown. It reached the USA and spread, they then banned flights from certain parts of Europe, it was only a matter of time. On March 17 it was official as the UK joined the list of banned countries 10 days off departure day. So my tours became Trev's Tour not as first my 2020 tour and then my 2021 tour did not happen, 5 Towns Radio also closed. Open mics were tried online I found them hard to access my first attempt ended up with me leaving. I did do the April Poem a Day event and decided to use Facebook Live as a platform for all my travel poems. The original idea was to do a poem a day until a cure was found, I deemed that impractical as there are 1500, so I hit on the idea that I would do the poems in day order starting on April 1. A friend also started a group called Writing Group where the host gave out a subject on a daily basis, this proved handy for coming up with quick couplets or short stanzas before I left for my voluntary work. I also joined the National Poetry Writing Month poem a day project for April, ending up with 41 poems about my volunteering and what I would have been doing had it not been for the Coronavirus outbreak, as part of my Texas Tour. All poems were published on my facebook page at the end of the day, some to great acclaim, one being considered for a Pandemic Poetry Anthology, people saying they felt the emotion I put in writing the poems, coming out in the reading of them, one woman wanting to hear me recite one asked for a video recording of it, which was duly sent and enjoyed. During the lockdown there were online open mics, at first I had problems but persevered and eventually was able to access more online open mics. The year continued online open mics still taking the place of live ones but they were great events to promote the anthologies, there looked to be light at the end of the tunnel as cases dropped and a virus was found, as a result at the back end of September I started composing again, a new selection of poems for a hoped for 2021 tour, but cases started rising again and a new strain of the virus emerged and once again we went into lockdown. In December someone at a poetry group suggested a poetry advent calendar, so I decided I would do one Haiku style, one for each day leading up to Christmas Eve and all relevant, it went down well. One of my closing poems of 2020 ended with a note of optimism due to the vaccine being rolled out to get out there in 2021 do even if there was no poetry festival, and so the poem continued along with an event February came and things were getting busy with the food bank, it was obvious that I would not be going to Texas this Spring I decided to leave 5 Towns Radio giving a months notice, it was all done amicably, I left on March 16th but did everything possible to ensure a smooth transition of roles for when the station gets back on the air. At the end of March I closed the first section of poems I had started in September, as Trev’s hoped for 2021 Tour, calling it The Run Up Pt 1 Still In Lockdown with 38 poems it brought my total to 1542. I decided to do the NaPoWriMo 2021 (Poem a Day for April), and start the second section in May as The Run Up Pt 2 Coming out of Lockdown. I managed 40 poems for NaPoWriMo, one short of the 41 I did in 2020. Nothing much happened until June 6, a friend had suggested an open mic on Baildon Moor, a spot called Cinder Caves, a big piece of what looks like cinder sticking out of Baildon Moor. We did some test runs prior to the event, sound checks, videos of how to get there and decided to go for it. Hailed as the first open air open mic coming out of lockdown it was a great success, everybody wanted another one which was planned for July 4 but postponed due to the weather. Another went ahead on July 11, few in attendance but enjoyable and relaxed, The next one would be August 1st. Also in June I was invited to read humanitarian poems on the Steps of Bradford Cathedral by another friend for the close of Refugee Week. This too although only a few were there, was a really enjoyable event. Joe Biden, US President had met with Boris Johnson in the UK and hinted at the travel ban from the UK to the USA being lifted so I prepared an itinerary, incorporating a festival in Georgetown should I be able to get over. Then news came in from West Texas of some events over four days in August I sent an expression of interest which went down well. The organisers in West Texas were keen to have me there and have virtual events round the time zone so I could join in if I couldn't make it over there. I for my part decided I would be ready to fly out at 5 days notice, arriving three days before the events which would give me time to get there without rushing. So it was a matter of wait and see July and a surprise as another anthology I had contributed to "Animal Tales 2021" by Tablerock Poets of Texas, I had sent a poem about my time working at Austin Wildlife Rescue for the first time. I was one of 5 poets from Yorkshire, 3 whom I have performed with. A week later I got news that another anthology I had been accepted for in April was being released on July 19 so called Freedom Day when restrictions would be lifted and people would be expected to proceed with caution and take responsibility for their actions. A zoom event was was organised to celebrate, it was another charity anthology the money going to a Yorkshire based charity, The Clothing Bank. I had hoped to fly out to Austin for August, the initial plan to fly out on July 31st, this was changed to August 2 to allow me to take in 2 open mics in Yorkshire before flying out. It was not to be though, the ban was still in place, it would mean attending Georgetown online, and hoping the ban would be lifted in time for me to get to West Texas, the promoters had really gone to town, promoting me on the posters as United Kingdoms Trev the Road Poet. Sadly it was not to be, the ban remained in place I was able to access part of the Georgetown event via zoom, open mics on a Saturday morning which was their afternoon, the evening was workshops so I declined as I had other things on. West Texas and I would have been taking part in an event called Summer Rhymers with the Permian Basin Poets at Midland College. The posters had been done showing me in person, this to was not to be but someone came up with the idea of my work being read by someone else and images of me been shown. I agreed to this, and was told it went down well. The person who read my work said he had enjoyed it, it was an honour and would like to meet me in person, he later followed it up with an open invitation to call next time I as passing, give them notice and they would try and set up things so I could talk to the students In September 2021 President Biden had said the ban on UK citizens could be lifted in early November, I began to look forward to this, but would wait until confirmation, eventually it was said the ban would lift on November 8, so I made plans to fly out on the 10th with a pre flight covid test on the 8th covering the three days condition between test and arrival. Sadly on 25 October having applied for my ESTA I put my back out delivering food parcels and again it looked like a delay. 2022 came and my back was still bad, I had hoped it would be ok for March and I could go out to Texas again but it was not to be. I got really down not writing and attending a few events which I considered important, but even then I was only there for there for the first half, except for April's Poetry on The Moor, there was only a few of us and it was nice to get out. I also decided to do NaPoWriMo for April in the hope that it would get me writing again, while my back improved and I could make plans to go to Texas in the fall. My back did improve, plans were made and I did fly out on November 3rd planning to stop till Dec 3. By the time I arrived I'd written 14 poems on departure day, I wrote none before for fear of my hopes being in vain again. Whilst in Austin I wrote a further 53 it felt good to be writing again although there weren't many open mics it was great to be back, some hosts looked in amazement as I walked in it was great to meet up with them again, also my voluntary work at Austin Wildlife Rescue was back on track, it was like I'd never been away, a hug from one of eth female staff made it all worthwhile . After Austin it was to West Texas where some events had been booked for me, they went well as did a trip to Lamesa where there was talk if something happening next year. Then it was once more down to The Rio Grande Valley where I did two days in a school and helped celebrate International AIDS Day at two more events. By the time I returned home I had written 135 poems bringing my total of travel poems to 1755. 2023 I decided again to book for April in Texas, and so did. The Rio Grande Valley event was taking place so I submitted an entry form and poetry for their anthology, hopefully I would be able to get back copies of the previous anthologies I had featured in but was stopped by Covid from getting them. Thom told me of new events in Austin which were also to look forward to and Bob Mudd was hoping to come over from Australia whish along with me Thom and David Lester Young (Ben Franklin) would mean a reunion of Poets Four or the Commonwealth Poets, as we were were last known as. Again events were booked for me in West Texas along with a potential new venue in Lamesa called Li'l Venue, al in al it was looking good I would have two days in Lamesa before moving on to Midland and more events, then down to The Valley so I began writing again. Some bad news came when I was told that Li'l Venue wouldn't be ready in time, I would still stay two nights in Lamesa we may get something going at Connie's. Darla had hoped to do something but would be in Austin at the time. She would be back before I left Midland so I would be able to nip over for any event depending on what night it was, sadly it didn't happen. So my 2023 tour went ahead new venues were used and the feedback was excellent, they wanted to carry on. Down in the Rio Grande Valley it was mainly live events, things were coming back together, and the potential was there to make next years bigger. The PTSD trilogy I wrote at a workshop in 2013, was this time recited at more than one event each time going down a storm, being described as truly describing the illness and awesome. In all I wrote 193 poems bringing my travel poems total to 1948, my AWR poems to 101 with a full blog total of 2020. 2024 Once more book for Texas, bit of a comedy of errors I'd booked for the Tablerock Festival thinking the RGVIPF was the weekend before, it wasn't so I had to miss the RGVIPF but still went at the time I booked, changing it would have been to expensive, another error I would find out was I had booked my hire car to drop back of at 1 pm instead of three, extending the period would cost to much so I looked forward reluctantly to spending 6 hours at Austin airport, I seem to recall doing similar before. The tour went well with in addition to Tablerock I picked up some open mics at short notice thanks to friends over there. One was at a replica of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in Odessa, as a result of a friend sending me an advert and another friend getting in touch with the organisers. the acoustics were great, no mic needed, my words just seemed to resound and be drawn out of me. the second was in The Rio Grande Valley when another friend happened to mention to someone, I was back in the Valley, two days later I was at another school the students enjoyed it as did I. Another highlight was, when I was asked by a student to read from the poem called The Raven. I was surprised how well it came out, other students were amazed and pleased that I pointed out Shakespeare's sonnets could be were Omniverse, can be read from the start (Obverse), and from the finish (Inverse) in effect giving two separate poems, proved when I read them as such. At the end of this tour I had written 156 poems bringing my total tour poems to 2107, AWR poems to 113, with 124 being credited to NaPoWriMo, my full total being 2243. 2025 I had decided to scale down on open mics as I felt they were getting much of a muchness, even though some were new events. however I did carry on going to Texas, and once again had a great time certain events were arranged for me, I featured for the 14th consecutive time in Boundless, the anthology of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival. As with last year the poetry formed part of NaPoWriMo starting during the run up and ending on my last day in The Valley I have yet to write my best poem for as someone once said "when that happens it's time to stop" so in the words of Dag Hammarsjold, I'll continue to break new ground. Thank you for reading my profile I hope you enjoy reading the poems too.

Samples

I Like (A Yorkshire dialect protest poem) I like to compose poetry On paper it is written If thar don't like it that's tough Wi' grief Ah'll not be smitten Cos when Ah write me poems It's nowt ter do wi' thee Cos' when Ah write 'em Ah'm writtin' 'em fer me Bobbing and Weaving Bobbing and weaving, bobbing and weaving He went out on the razzle, In his best attire This brave fighter of fire, He hoped the females to dazzle. Bobbing and weaving, bobbing and weaving Feeling cock a hoop in a female group, He gave one a push and there was a hush As she bounced back and gave him a crack, A right hook to the jaw he fell to the floor Bobbing and weaving, bobbing and weaving She certainly decked him, They couldn't resurrect him, The tension did mount He was out for the count. No more bobbing and weaving, no more bobbing and weaving To end the game The paramedics came And carried him out to the sound of his mates jeering, While the females rejoiced with the sound of cheering, And cheering and cheering, And cheering and cheering. Golliwogg's Cakewalk Some say a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing That there’s all sorts of trouble it may bring But there’s a time in life’s little games When it can shoot a know all down in flames Like when the boss asked wanting to know, What I played on my hospital radio show I said opera, symphonies concertos and more Classics from the adverts, the latest film score The ascending of the lark, Chamber music from Bach Pachelbel’s canon which is not a gun, Then I thought I’d have some fun I wonder did he expect My program to be politically correct When I said I can say “Golliwogg's” and with out doubt, It’s something the PC brigade can do nothing about He said “you can’t” I said “I can” So back and forth the words flew Like the song I can do anything better than you, I said in classic music titles you’ll find it I can say Golliwogg's but I must add cakewalk behind it Then to my delight a guy said “Trev’s right ” When I explained the boss had to concede defeat Cos’ Golliwogg's Cakewalk's a movement from Debussy’s Children’s Corner Suite

All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.

Blog entries by Trev the Road Poet

2026: Trev’s Annual Texas Tour and NaPoRiMo Part 1 The Run Up (10/05/2026)

2025: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 11 The Journey Home (26/05/2025)

2025: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 10 Austin 2 (25/05/2025)

2025: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 9 Edinburg to Austin (24/05/2025)

2025: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 8 Edinburg (23/05/2025)

2025: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 7 Eagle Pass to Edinburg (22/05/2025)

2025: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 6 Midland to Eagle Pass (21/05/2025)

2025: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 5 Midland (20/05/2025)

2025: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 4 Austin to Midland (18/05/2025)

2025: Trev does another National Poetry Month in Texas and NaPoWriMo: Part 3 Austin 1 (16/05/2025)

Read more entries by Trev the Road Poet…

Blog link: https://www.writeoutloud.net/blogs/trevtheroadpoet

Audio entries by Trev the Road Poet

2017 and Trev goes to Texas for a 7th time: The journey home (11/05/2017)

2017 and Trev goes to Texas for a 7th time: McAllen to Austin (11/05/2017)

2017 and Trev goes to Texas for a 7th time: McAllen (11/05/2017)