Paying attention

Readers of this blog will know I have been thinking a lot about stationery recently. (Actually, that is something of…

The stationery thing again

My blog post yesterday about the stationery thing provoked more responses than I ever imagined it would. Among the…

At the start of each academic year, usually when I have known them for a week or so, I make…

I was very saddened to learn recently of the death of Michael Baldwin, the novelist, poet, writing tutor and former…

Twilight Three minutes ago it was almost dark. Now all the darkness is in the leaves (there are no…

I once heard Andrew Motion give a poetry reading at a day-conference for teachers, writers and writers in education. There…

The most immediate and forthright analysis of a poem I have seen at any poetry workshop occurred as I passed…

Dear Ant So you’ve had your first chemotherapy treatment. That first night, when you came home and carried the sick…

I am delighted to have two new poems on Josephine Corcoran’s And Other Poems poetry blog. This is where you…

One of the most powerful performances on my old Faber cassette tape of Ted Hughes reading his poems is ‘Bride…

Damp white imprints dog the feet; snowbound trolley, snowbound street. Her tip of glove to lip and cheek, “Goodbye.” Go.…

My wife and I are at the airport of a European capital city. It’s late on a Friday evening, the…

Dear Ant Isn’t it strange, how quickly you notice your passing from one world into the next? One minute…

The third Writing Research Across Borders conference takes place this week in Paris. I will be presenting a poster of…

We walked into the brunt light, towards the hospital. The air was dry, February-cold. Traffic was going about its…

I have been thinking a lot recently about final lines of poems. I’ve always been fond of Seamus Heaney’s comment about…

The Day After I made a leek and potato soup the day after, prompted by the look of the peeled…

Gift A day so happy.Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden.Hummingbirds were stopping over the honeysuckle flowers.There was no…