Poems of the Pretentious Minds

Poems of the Pretentious Minds features a wide array of self-indulgent, darkly comical but heart-wrenching poetry that covers many topics such as love, family, friendship, death, sex addiction, abuse, anxiety, depression, suicide, mental turmoil, the city of London, various other locations around the UK and the intricacies of the world itself. Some of the poems also explore the contradiction of humanity and how one can appreciate the minute things in life, whilst others delve deeper into the human condition and how our emotions can ultimately cloud our judgement.Later poems take a more autobiographical approach and instead focus on the poet himself, detailing his personality, conflicting emotions, life experiences, deep-rooted thoughts and his overall outlook of the world. Most of the poems have a sharply satirical edge to them, particularly the ones that focus on modern-day society as a whole, and real life events that have sparked mass debate and controversy.

TJ Mustafa was born in 1998 in Essex. This is where he also attended school and college, where he received a Diploma in Film and Media.
He began drawing and writing creatively from a young age, but didn’t start writing poetry until his early 20s. His writing inspirations include Percy Bysshe Shelley, Henry Vaughn, Patti Smith, Sylvia Plath and Edgar Allen Poe, with the latter being his favourite author.