PORTSMOUTH — Rain barrels catch the water when it rains at his little cabin in the woods. Living in the woods with nature has been one of Brian Richards’ inspirations in writing poetry. His interest in current events also inspired some of his poetry.

Richards, adjunct instructor in English and faculty tutor at Shawnee State University, has been living in a cabin in the woods with no running water and no electricity for the past 10 years.

The University of New Orleans published his latest book, “Enridged.” He has five more books of poetry in the Clark Memorial Library. He published his first work when he was 17 years old. He has fans across the country but not many people know him in this area, he said. “Enridged” has selected pieces Richards wrote since living in his cabin in the woods.

“The poems primarily are based on my life in the forest,” Richards said. “I had always yearned for the outside all my life.”

He worked as a logger and as a carpenter and even though he graduated from Bowling Green University and attended graduate school at the University of Massachusetts, Richards left because he didn’t think he wanted to have anything to do with academia. He still wanted to be in the woods, so he traveled to Washington State and got a job in logging.

As he got older, he decided to move back to Ohio.  Then he built his cabin in the woods where he has been living ever since.

“Poetry has always been my life and it kept leading me to more and more solitude,” Richards said.