Sideways looking ... John Hegley

If poets won prizes for being funny, or entertaining in performance, John Hegley would have laurels enough to rest on for several lifetimes. As it is, on top of 13 collections of verse, his gentle humour and inventive rhyme schemes have made him a favourite on the comedy circuit for some three decades.

Visiting the podcast studio last week, he talked about his muses - which have included dogs and glasses - and previewed a few of the poems in his forthcoming show, Christmas Creatures (at the BAC in south London from today).

He also proved himself a man who can find immediate inspiration anywhere, by translating a story from that day's paper into a stirring and rather startlingly catchy song.

• Listen now on your computer (16 mins)

• Subscribe to the Guardian Books podcast feed here, or here (via iTunes)

• More about Guardian Books podcasts