On judging

I have been asked to judge a thing. A good thing. A serious thing. (But this isn’t about that. We…

Thomas Lux’s syntax

I first heard Thomas Lux’s poems before I read them. In the autumn of 2000 I was sent a tape…

She started as a name. There I was, following my nose, minding my own business, trying to ignore all instincts…

I am delighted to be included in Issue Twelve of Antiphon poetry magazine. You can read my new poem, ‘S’,…

The other day I was asked what I look for in poetry. Needing to give a quick answer I said: I…

Alan Booth wasn’t the first teacher to teach me something, but he was the first who drew me into the…

This is Jörn Cann. He was my ward doctor at the haematology unit where I was treated for non-Hodgkin’s…

I am delighted to be included in Lyrical, a new anthology of poems with my friends Cole Moreton, Katherine Venn,…

Below is a collection of my blog posts for the 2014 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. I will update it as I…

In 1991 we moved to a house in Brixton, south London. Of all our welcomes, that of our neighbour, the…

One of the biggest influences on my life, let alone my writing, is Martin Wilson. I should know; he’s my…

Photograph © Bloodaxe Books Ltd I am delighted to announce that my Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts has now become…

The online poetry magazine dedicated to very short poems, Nutshells and Nuggets, has taken two new poems of mine. You…

My friend and colleague Anna Craft has died. She was famous -if that is the right word- as a researcher…

A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. Robert Frost…

One of the poets I am most looking forward to listening to at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in November is…

Never having succeeded at school, I’ve always thought of poetry as the holidays, not term time. Hugo Williams In November…

It all started with two remarks, one by a friend, the other by a stranger at work. ß The friend’s…