Blue, Blue, Yellow Squares Blue

Toriaga always added these words to the title page of any of his collections of poems

It was almost like an autograph

Indeed he always signed his books as Blue, Blue, Yellow Squares Blue instead of his birth name

He recommended to friends that they travel without clothes (as he did) to ensure that their luggage was not stolen from them in transit

Toriaga travelled to many countries and his method of travel was accepted widely

If he was questioned he would hand a copy of his autobiography to the official as an explanation

I will quote of fragment of his autobiography

Page 28

My job is to follow celebrities everywhere in short to cloud their lives just to feed the appetite of glossy magazines

I am known as a member of the paparazzi and I follow these beautiful (and not so beautiful) people everywhere

Sometimes to unknown islands or just the local park

I will photograph them playing away or playing at home or just playing. I will photograph them in states of undress or in their best clothes

In short I invade their privacy and am paid handsomely for my invasion. Last year I photographed a minor royal topless at her villa and apart from being lightly fined for trespass I was paid what was probably the average person’s yearly wage for the photographs

I travel in disguise as my face is well known.

My disguises seem to work as I am nearly always successful in my pursuit

But even I return home to my wife and two daughters. We live near the river in Richmond and I still drive a ten year old car

I ask my daughters to dress modestly and when I am in the country we attend church twice on Sunday’s and once during the week

As a family we try to keep the Lord’s commandments and pray for forgiveness when we do not

We have a dog called monkey and a cat called Lucy. I do not photograph my pets as they have the right to their privacy and only photograph my wife and daughters with their express permission

We holiday in Scotland each year where I study the summer midges. I am something of an expert on the subject and am having a book published next year

The book will be written under my pen-name Spencer House.

 

Toriaga is married,

His wife is called Minter Deft

She too is a poet

Here is an example of her work

H IS FOR HAWK

N IS FOR NIGHT PORTER

R IS FOR ROAD SIGN

P IS FOR PYLON

T IS FOR TATTOO

Minter Deft is a tattooist and uses her own body as a canvas. Her latest series of tattoos are entitled

Exquisite Battles

She has tattooed the Battle of Austerlitz on the whole length of her spine and has illustrations of both the Battle of Marlborough and the Battle of Hastings on her gluteus maximus

Hidden behind her knee is the representation of a minor skirmish in a village called Bedwyn in Wiltshire

(Minter Deft was born in Wiltshire)

On and above her Mons Pubis the Battle of Bosworth Field is illustrated in detail. It was a commonly held belief that before his remains were uncovered in Leicester that the bones of King Richard the Third were buried in this area

Blue, Blue, Yellow Squares Blue

Toriaga’s most successful recent poem was called Father Weir which was hugely popular in Catholic countries as they thought his inspiration came straight from God. He wrote it after being involved in a gliding accident during his retirement in a convent near Staines

It is a short poem but incredibly powerful in its images and message. I will let you decide for yourselves

Father Weir

Father Weir praised a feather

As it floated down

From his church

As he knew

It came from God

Toriaga also wrote a companion piece which was equally as popular but was banned in the Bible Belt in the United States

Father Wick

Father Wick praised a feather

As it floated down

From his church

As he knew

It came from God

The trilogy was completed last month with the publication of Father William which as I write is banned in most countries in the world with the exception of Japan

Father William

Father William praised a feather

As it floated down

From his church

As he knew

It came from God

What was unique with the Father series of poems was that instead of being published in the normal book format that they were engraved on the rounded sides of Brown Betty teapots

Brown Betty teapots have since become very popular

The idea came to Toriaga in a dream when writing the trilogy