Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing in yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotyzing yourself and going over the…
Archive
Lifesaving Poems: Langston Hughes’s ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’
The Negro Speaks of Rivers I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the…
Lifesaving Poems: Pablo Neruda’s ‘The Dead Woman’ (La Muerta)
The Dead Woman If suddenly you do not exist,if suddenly you no longer live,I shall live on. I do not…
Lifesaving Poems: Kenneth Rexroth’s ‘The Advantages of Learning’
The Advantages of Learning I am a man with no ambitions And few friends, wholly incapable Of making a…
Guest blog post: In praise of Joan Mitchell, by Tamar Yoseloff
Joan Mitchell looks to be the only artist of her generation, man or woman, who produced a big, abstract, painterly…
An interview with Poetry Spotlight
This is the opening question and answer to an interview with Paul Clyne of Poetry Spotlight, published today. With thanks…
Guest blog post: A Mentor: Anthony Glavin, by Mark Granier
Recently, I took our 11-year old boy to see the Turners in the National Gallery of Ireland. These 31 watercolours…
Buggering about on the internet
‘Hullo,’ says the book. ‘I thought you had gone away.’ ‘I lied,’ says the book. ‘What are you going to…
‘I’m your new book!’
‘Hullo!’ says the book. ‘Have we been introduced?’ I say. ‘I’m your new book!’ ‘But I haven’t finished the last…
Walking into the light
We walked into the brunt light, towards the hospital. The air was dry, February-cold. Traffic was going about its business.…
Things people said when I had cancer
‘I am so, so sorry.’ ‘You’re going to be fine.’ ‘Fight it, you know you’re a fighter.’ ‘Are we going…
Ten years today
This is a momentous week. It marks the tenth anniversary of the day I was told I had cancer. To…
Goodbye
Padding down the stairs to make my mid-morning coffee, I become aware of a large black bag lying in the…
Cancer vs. chipper
The thing about having cancer was that it was pretty obvious what was going on. I had been feeling fairly…
Guest blog post: Carol Emshwiller’s short stories, by Tania Hershman
“I like writing best because it’s the hardest art. There are more balls to keep in the air at a…
One of the great functions of art -by Adrienne Rich
One of the great functions of art is to help…
Out of the Crocodile’s Mouth: a discussion of poetry, education and children, with Michael Rosen and Marina Boroditskaya -from MPT Magazine
Last year MPT Magazine published a brilliant edition wholly dedicated to children’s poetry (Number 2, 2015), titled I Wish… It was one of…
Chipper
I was at a thing. There were just a few of us in the room, gathered round a table. I…
Lifesaving Poems 