Kevin Pyne
Kevin Pyne
Kevin Pyne – poet, boatman and community activist - is making wooden pins in his garage as we catch up and chat about his life. It’s a perfect illustration of the work ethic that has run throughout his life.
“I’m not doing too bad,” he says, “I’m bound to be: I’ve got good people around me in my life.”
Born in 1950 in Dartmouth, Kevin attended Catholic primary school and then Cuthbert Mayne in Torquay. He then, in his own words, “mucked around on the river” in various jobs. He worked on the riverboats, the ferries and a number of other roles, all based on or around his beloved river Dart.
“Then I fell in love with a pretty redhead and decided I needed a proper job, so I joined the team on the Lower Ferry,” he smiles. “I worked on it for 25 years.”
Kevin’s marriage to Lyzie, the subject of many of his poems, produced two children – Ross and Robyn, both of whom have continued the family connection to water: Ross is a shipping agent and Robyn (now Dr Robyn) lectures at Plymouth University in International Shipping Logistics.
But after more than two decades, Kevin soon found himself forced to change careers after an accident.
“I was crushed between a car and the ferry at work,” he said. “Surgeons had to completely rebuild my leg. I wear a leg brace to this day. I left the ferry and started working on a water taxi. I was rubbish! The main problem I hadn’t thought of was that with my brace and limp it would be difficult to get around on a small boat full of people and bags!”
Then tragedy struck – Lyzie became gravely ill in 1998. She died from cancer in 1999, after 14 months of illness.
Kevin had always loved poetry – anyone who has heard him quoting Kipling or Causley will know he has an abiding love for it. He had also written for years, quietly encouraged by his loving wife.
He wrote a poem for Lyzie when she died and it led, almost by accident, to his current career as a writer.
“People thought it was a good poem, and a couple of people said they didn’t believe I’d written it,” he tells me. “I suddenly wanted to prove I did, by writing more.
“I’ve always written poetry but I’m not a natural poet,” Kevin says. “I’m dyslexic and can’t spell at all! I never lost my love of writing and poetry, even though at school no one had any idea about dyslexia and just told me I was thick.”
Then, in 2002, another tragedy struck.
Kevin went in to hospital for a colonoscopy to investigate a tumor and contracted the flesh-eating bug Necrotizing fasciitis. The tumor turned out to be benign, but the flesh eating disease nearly killed the hardy ferryman.
“I was in hospital for six months, and had to have major reconstructive surgery. Half of my stomach is missing and I have to use a colostomy bag. I nearly died a number of times. I came out of it disabled and unable to do as much as I used to, but it’s been 12 years since it happened and I keep reminding myself I wasn’t expected to make it this far.”
His near death experiences all served to inspire Kevin to write even more. His poems came to the attention of Dartmouth Publisher Richard Webb, and Kevin’s first collection Further Up the River and fifty other poems was published in October 2004. It featured a foreword by Alice Oswald, who won the TS Elliot Award for her poem ‘Dart’ – in which the ‘ferryman’ character is based on Kevin!
It is now up to its fifth printing. Its sequel First Across the Line was released in October 2005.
Since then Kevin has been included in anthologies with Nelson Mandela and been featured in the National Service for Remembrance. He received a letter of thanks from the Queen for his poem ‘”In the Park” that was used for Remembrance:
“The postie knocked on the door and said ‘You’ve got a really posh letter.’ I said I must be getting sued by someone, and he just said ‘No, really REALLY posh!’ And it was a letter from the Queen!”
It’s quite a journey from ferryman to internationally recognised wordsmith – in fact Kevin is one of the country’s best selling poets.
“I’m humbled by it all really,” he says. “People contact me from all over the world. I didn’t realise you needed to be young and fit to be a poet – because I’m asked to travel so much to do readings, but really can’t fulfill many engagements!”
Throughout Kevin’s poetry is an unshakable love of the river Dart and the town of Dartmouth – why does he love the place and get involved with the community so much?
“I’ve travelled quite a bit in my life and it’s still one of the most stunning places you can be. I love it here. I love sitting up on the hill looking down on the harbour and know the people skippering the boats I can see below me. It’s taken a lifetime being blown around the harbour to get to this point, where I can feel like that.
“I’ve realised that no one here is what they seem and that’s one of its best qualities.”
Kevin now works for the Gig Club, the Regatta and continues to write every day. He is in a committed relationship with Claire Thorp, and all in all seems to be doing ok.
“I generally try to write poetry and do jobs to be useful - like making pins!”
First published May 2014 By The Dart
