Calvert had regarded himself first and foremost as a poet and writer and his original involvement with the English rock group Hawkwind from 1971 was as a lyricist and narrator of "space-age poetry" at gigs.

It was later as a solo performer and his second spell with Hawkwind from 1976 that he had become more recognised as being a singer and front-man of a rock band, but he continued actively writing poems and plays during this time.

In 1977 a collection of his poems were compiled and published by Quasar books, the title being (allegedly) the temperature at which writing paper burns "signifying the writer destroying his rough drafts".

[1] The book received a launch party at Battersea Arts Centre, London, which also featured performances from Cream lyricist Pete Brown and Gong's Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth.

[4] Voiceprint Records label head Rob Ayling passed a copy of the cassette tape of Calvert's recitations to Dave Brock and asked him to set some of the titles to music.