Poet | Writer

David Harley admits to being the wrong side of 70, and while he has spent large swathes of his life in London and the West Midlands, since 2016 he has lived in West Cornwall with his wife and an assortment of guitars. Having once been a professional musician and songwriter and occasional (recreational) versifier, he eventually admitted defeat and took the first of a series of proper jobs in information technology, specializing in security research, authoring and editing. As well as writing/contributing to a number of security books, magazines and blogs, he contributed to and edited a number of small-press poetry anthologies (Survivors Press, Chaff, First Time, Vertical Images etc.), and was involved with a number of readings, workshops, revues and festivals in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, but it would be astonishing to find much trace of all that now. Unless, of course, you’re unfortunate enough to catch him pretending to relive past glories at a poetry reading…

Since retiring in 2019, he has concentrated mostly on writing and recording songs, occasionally foraying into verse and stories.

You can find his work in:

Book Eight (2022)

Three Poems:

1. Covid Morality, p52

2. Happy snaps, p53

3. The Which? p54