Nightwatchmanan elegyMouth set. So far, noughtnot out, having dabbed atthe spinner who’d been giving itsome air. Hands soft – taking…
Archive
On Riddance
Riddance is published today. It is my fourth full-length collection of poems and my third with Worple Press. You can…
Lifesaving Poems: James Tate’s ‘I am a Finn’
I Am a Finn I am standing in the post office, about to mail a package back to Minnesota, to…
Lifesaving Poems: Seamus Heaney’s ‘Night Drive’
Night Drive The smells of ordinarinessWere new on the night drive through France;Rain and hay and woods on the airMade…
12 Ways to Practise Writing Poems
I have just come back from the Greenbelt Festival where I was delighted to give a talk about writing poetry…
On Radiotherapy
This week six years ago I began the course of radiotherapy which was to mark the final chapter of my…
Lifesaving Poems: Mandy Sutter’s ‘Caring for the Environment’
Caring for the EnvironmentIn Wonderland, they say ‘Drink Me’but in Leeds they shoulder the bin asidesaying ‘Take me to the…
Lifesaving Poems: Ian McMillan’s ‘On The Impossibility of Staying Alive’
On the Impossibility of Staying Alive They have found a new moon; it stands on my shoulder. They call it…
Lifesaving Poems: Thom Gunn’s ‘Autobiography’
AutobiographyThe sniff of the real, that’swhat I’d want to get how it feltto sit on ParliamentHill on a May eveningstudying…
Lifesaving Poems: Michael Laskey’s ‘Bike’
BikeYou, who have borne three sonsof mine, still bear my weightroutinely, transporting me.An odd pair: your classic sparelines – elbows,…
Lifesaving Poems: Rutger Kopland’s ‘I Cavalli di Leonardo’
I Cavalli di LeonardoAll those sketches he left behind –endless series of repetitions: bunches of muscles, sinews,knuckles, joints, the entire…
Lifesaving Poems: Robert Pinsky’s ‘Song of Reasons’
Song of ReasonsBecause of the change of key midway in “Come Back to Sorrento”The little tune comes back higher, and…
Life After Chemo
The oddest phase of my experience of cancer six years ago was the period of time after my chemotherapy treatment…
Lifesaving Poems: Jean Sprackland’s ‘The Birkdale Nightingale’
The Birkdale Nightingale(Bufo calamito – the Natterjack toad)On Spring nights you can hear themtwo miles away, calling their matesto the…
Lifesaving Poems: Stephen Berg’s ‘Eating Outside’
Eating OutsideFat pine boughsdroop over the vegetable garden’ssticks and leaves,the moon’s hazy face comes and goesin the heat.Beautiful women,your skin…
Lifesaving Poems: Ian Duhig’s ‘From the Irish’ and Maura Dooley’s ‘Mansize’
Last night saw the launch of Magma 53 at the Troubadour Coffee House in London with guest readers and Lifesaving…
Lifesaving Poems is one year old
A year ago I began the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts. I got the idea for it after reading…
Lifesaving Poems: George Messo’s ‘The Beautiful Apartments’
The Beautiful ApartmentsThe thought working its way towards the light.-Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1946In the empty blockacross the lake from hereyou notice…
Lifesaving Poems 