A step from me

In August last year I wrote about Tom Paulin’s poem of hurt and slow healing ‘A Lyric Afterwards’. It wasn’t … More

‘I hate this time of year’

Photo credit: Andrew Rumsey This, from a person I have met a handful of times, our dogs nosing each other … More

One of the things I have learned about myself in the last year or so is that I can sometimes … More

I like to think of myself as a pretty consistent person. I look askance with a certain smugness at the … More

What’s been happening? Well, not much. Which is another, deflecting, way of saying quite a lot, actually. So much that … More

Though you may disappear, you’re not forgotten here And I will say to you, I will do what I can … More

I had bumped into a friend at the cash machine. We greeted each other, as we always do, with a … More

Be Kind Not merely because Henry James saidthere were but four rules of life—be kind be kind be kind be … More

The unexamined life’s no different from … More

The Thing Is to love life, to love it evenwhen you have no stomach for itand everything you’ve held dearcrumbles … More

When I am Asked When I am asked how I began writing poems, I talk about the indifference of nature. … More

Dear Arthur Frank I’m writing to say thank you for your extraordinary book At the Will of the Body. It is … More

The Fear of Poetry In this moment when we facehorizons and conflicts widerthan ever before, we want our resources,the ways … More

BeforeMake over the alleys and gardens to birdsong,the hour of not-for-an-hour. Lie still.Leave the socks you forgot on the clothesline.Leave … More

Courage It is in the small things we see it.The child’s first step,as awesome as an earthquake.The first time … More

We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found … More

The Layers I have walked through many lives, some of them my own, and I am not who I … More

On the Edge After your mother dies, you will learn to live on the edge of life, to brace … More