The unexamined life’s no different from …
The Thing Is
The Thing Is to love life, to love it evenwhen you have no stomach for itand everything you’ve held dearcrumbles…
When I am Asked
When I am Asked When I am asked how I began writing poems, I talk about the indifference of nature. …
Autumn
Autumn One night goes on longer than the rest, never so long, whiled away. Then dawn. Goodbye, insects. Hollow casings…
God’s Grief
God’s Grief Great parentwho must have started outwith such high hopes.What magnitude of suffering,the immensity of guilt,the staggering despair.A mind…
Praise the Rain
Praise the Rain Praise the rain; the seagull diveThe curl of plant, the raven talk—Praise the hurt, the house slackThe…
The most popular lifesaving poems
Earlier this year my Lifesaving Poems blog enjoyed something of a milestone. Not as momentous as Jimmy Anderson taking his…
Open letter to Arthur Frank (on reading At the Will of the Body)
Dear Arthur Frank I’m writing to say thank you for your extraordinary book At the Will of the Body. It is…
The fear of poetry -by Muriel Rukeyser
The Fear of Poetry In this moment when we facehorizons and conflicts widerthan ever before, we want our resources,the ways…
