A DELIVERY driver from Taunton has smashed any preconceptions of what a poet should be.

When someone mentions they are a poet, perhaps you think of them living in a garret, wrestling with their inspiration to painstakingly write down each word.

If you do then bin that thought and wake up to the ideas of a 21st century poet called Mark Cox.

By day he is delivery driver, who uses his time while driving to contemplate deep questions and come up with new poems.

While he is driving around he is thinking about ideas and poems and even writes them in his head as he is driving.

As a result he carries with him a notepad to write down the verses he has created.

Mark, 43, started writing poems 15 years ago and has spent the previous four years putting them together in what turned out to be his first book entitled The Human Ape.

Somerset County Gazette:

Mark said: “I started writing them (my poems) as a hobby. I had thought about sending them to a publisher but I had doubts but it was more of a case of having a fear of rejection which stopped me.

"I don’t know if I would have been able to continue writing if I had been rejected as I might not have had any enthusiasm.

"I used to be a driving instructor for eight years and then got a job as a delivery driver and when my confidence was high I pressed send - and sent my poems to the Book Guild.

“They replied and to my amazement they liked all 77 poems. These are all in the book called The Human Ape.”

The themes of Mark’s book goes from the Big Bang and includes man’s evolution from ape up until the present day and beyond.

It also includes Mark’s observations on modern life and his desire to write a book which everyone can feel they can understand and access.

Mark added: “I realised the poems could be put into different chapters which look at issues such as birth and death.

"I want my poems to be something which people can easily understand.

“I write things which made sense to me.”

The Human Ape by Mark Cox is published by the Book Guild and costs £7.99.