Amazingly, Shakydennis had no interest in poetry until nearly five years after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and since starting to write in January 2005, he has written more than 300 poems. The poetry is usually written in rhyming couplets with the occasional poem written in a different rhyming pattern. His poetry is usually humourous but he has also written a number of serious ones including one of his favourites, "Euthanasia". Poems cover a wide variety of topics with a number of his poems being published in a couple of different newspapers.

Shakydennis also writes poems for friends who supply him with enough information to allow his mind to get into the character of the poem they want. These requested poems are usually for birthdays but he has also written them to be read at funeral services for the deceased.

He believes that while Parkinson’s Disease has taken control of part of his mind it has also released other parts of his mind which were previouly not available to his conscioud mind. 

Shakydennis has self-published two poetry books. The first was "Out Of My Mind" and the second "Further Out Of My Mind". The titles of all poems in each book can be found on the menu.

Anyone in ACT or NSW Australia can purchase books by posting a cheque or money order for $15.00 (covers postage and packaging) to address on Contact Details page. Don’t forhet to include your postal address.

Other Australian states please include $18.00.

Sample poem follows - this is one of the ones I have written for children.

MY FAVOURITE DRAGON

I woke up in the middle of the night

A bad dream woke me with a fright

However when I woke and cleared my head

I saw a dragon at the bottom of my bed

It was green all over and its wings were red

And it had 2 big yellow eyes in its head

Pointy ears and a tongue real black

And bumps all along its hairy back

Big long nails on all its feet

I thought it looked rather neat

A pointed tail I could see

I wondered why it came to me

It looked at me and gave a wink

Or maybe both its eyes did blink

Nodded its head and gave me a nudge

However I refused to budge

It gave me another push with its head

So I jumped right out of my comfy bed

Climbed upon its back at last

And off it took with a roaring blast

It flew out the window into the night

I held on very very tight

There was no way that I would fall

The houses were looking very small

He flew me to a magic land

There were creatures very grand

All shapes and sizes, big and small

Some were short and some were tall

Many legs and yellow skin

Some were fat and some were thin

One was gold and one was green

And the brightest red I’ve ever seen

Some wore clothes and socks and shoes

A favourite one I could not choose

I liked them all they were great

And they treated me like a mate

I stayed and played for many hours

Then picked my mum some pretty flowers

The dragon then flew me home again

I just got inside before the rain

Now I realized this was just a dream

No matter how real it did seem

But when I woke up and went downstairs

There were flowers on the chairs

Mum and dad were real confused

And wondered why I seemed amused

Maybe the dragon really came to me

I guess I’ll have to wait and see