With Only One LifeHold with both handsThe tray of every dayAnd pass in turnAlong this counter.There is enough sunFor everybody.There…
Archive
Lifesaving Poems: Jackie Kay’s ‘Dusting the Phone’
Dusting the PhoneI am spending my time imagining the worst that could happen.I know this is not a good idea,…
A Few Odds and Sods
By this time in January, 2006 I was fairly certain that something was very wrong with my health. Like a…
Lifesaving Poems: John Logan’s ‘The Picnic’
The Picnic It is the picnic with Ruth in the spring. Ruth was third on my list of seven girls…
In search of the ‘Tyger’: power relationships and poetry in the classroom
When I began teaching the Year 5 class of children whose work would form the basis of my doctoral study…
Lifesaving Poems: Ann Gray’s ‘mercifully ordain that we may become aged together’
mercifully ordain that we may become aged togetherTobit 8.7 I was in the Canadian Muffin Company in Armada Way,waiting for…
Lifesaving Poems: WN Herbert’s ‘The Black Wet’
The Black WetIt’s raining stair-rods and chairlegs,it’s raining candelabra and microwaves,it’s raining eyesockets.When the sun shines through the showerit’s raining…
My Hero: Michael Laskey
Some writers influence you through the pull of their imagination on your work, opening up new worlds as you read…
The Day Ted Hughes Died
Ted Hughes died on 28 October, 1998, aged 68. He had been suffering with colon cancer. Just about everyone I…
In Memory of Emily Riall
Last week I posted a blog about entering remission after treatment for cancer. For me this moment will forever be…
What I have learned about remission
In February I wrote a blog post on the anniversary of my diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL), a cancer of…
Lifesaving Poems: Cliff Yates’s ‘Boggle Hole’
Boggle Hole Two new mountain bikes chained to the fence,three horses lean over, bite at the tyres,get the chain between…
In memory of Jörn Cann
I was deeply saddened to hear ten days ago of the death of Jörn Cann, the ward doctor in the…
Lifesaving Poems: Robert Rehder’s ‘Corminboeuf 157’
Corminboeuf 157 I am writing these poemsAs fast as I canSo that I don’t miss out on my late styleWhich…
Lifesaving Poems: Mandy Coe’s ‘Let’s Celebrate’
Let’s Celebrate the momentswhere nothing happens.The momentsthat fill our lives.Not the field bright with poppies, butthe times you walked, seeingno…
Lifesaving Poems: Moniza Alvi’s ‘I Would Like to be a Dot in a Painting by Miro’
I Would Like to be a Dot in a Painting by Miro I would like to be a dot in…
Poetry and 9/11
I am a little late in writing these reflections prompted by the tenth anniversary of 9/11. What I want to…
Lifesaving Poems: Mark Halliday’s ‘The Missing Poem’
The Missing PoemIt would have been dark but not lugubrious. It would have beenfairly short but not slight. It…
Lifesaving Poems 