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…
Lifesaving Poems: Margaret Avison’s ‘Twilight’
Twilight Three minutes ago it was almost dark.Now all the darkness is in theleaves (there are no morelow garage…
Lifesaving Poems: Mandy Sutter’s ‘Caring for the Environment’
In 1991 I made the decision to spend more of my time concentrating on the thing that fulfilled me…
Lifesaving Poems: Sean O’Brien’s ‘Before’
To safe and almost universal silence I published How Far From Here is Home? (Stride) a few days before Christmas in…
Go well
I have walked into the grief. I have walked into brave space, mine and others’. I have sat in…
