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Lifesaving Poems

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Essential poems for hard times

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Author: Anthony Wilson

I am a lecturer, poet and writing tutor. I work in teacher and medical education at the University of Exeter. My anthology Lifesaving Poems was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2015. In 2012 I published Riddance (Worple Press), a collection of poems, and Love for Now (Impress Books), a memoir, about my experience of cancer. The Wind and the Rain, my sixth collection of poems, is available now from Blue Diode Publishing. My current research project, funded by the Foyle Foundation, is Young Poets' Stories: https://youngpoetsstories.com/. This blog is archived by the British Library.

Crashing out

My concentration has not been all that it might have been recently. Loved ones are suffering. Some with this thing, … More

Cancer as a battle, Coronavirus, Covid-19, Life Lessons, Listening to Music, Lockdown, Margin Call, Max Richter, mindfulness, Presence

What good is love that no one shares

I started a bit of a thing for Max Richter a while ago. Then gave up. Last autumn I came … More

Classical Music, Coronavirus, Covid-19, Lockdown, Max Richter, Music, Shawna Lemay, Vivaldi

Practice

Practice To weep unbidden, to wake at night in order to weep, to wait for the whisker on the face … More

Coronavirus, Covid-19, Ellen Bryant Voigt, Grief, Life Lessons, Lifesaving Poems, Loss, mindfulness, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Pracrice, Prayer, reading poems, Reading Poetry

Any Common Desolation

Any Common Desolation can be enough to make you look upat the yellowed leaves of the apple tree, the fewthat … More

Coronavirus, Covid-19, Ellen Bass, Indigo, Life Lessons, Lifesaving Poems, mindfulness, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Presence, reading poems, Reading Poetry

Another Loss to Stop For

  Another Loss to Stop For   Against such cold and mercurial mornings, watch the wind whirl one leaf across … More

Another Loss to Stop For, Coronavirus, Covid-19, Distraction, Hammock, Jill Bialosky, Life Lessons, Lifesaving Poems, Max Richter, Mobile Phone Addiction, Poems, Poetry, Poets

As Planned

As Planned After the first glass of vodka you can accept just about anything of life even your own mysteriousness … More

As Planned, Drinking Poetry, Dry January, Frank O'Hara, Giving up alcohol, New York Poems, New York Poets, New York School, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry

Empathy and New Year

Empathy and New Year A notion like that of empathy inspires great distrust in us, because it connotes a further … More

Empathy, James Schuyler, Life Lessons, Lifesaving Poems, New Year Poems, New York Poets, Poems, Poetry, Poets, politics, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry

A Blessing in Disguise

A Blessing in Disguise Yes, they are alive and can have those colors, But I, in my soul, am alive … More

Blessing in Disguise, John Ashbery, Les Murray, New York Poets, New York School, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry, Seamus Heaney, Stephen Berg

What you read in 2019

Here are my most popular blog posts of 2019. As you will have seen, I am taking a brief sabbatical … More

C. P. Cavafy, Climate Change, Climate Change Anxiety, Climate Change Grief, Facebook, Facebook Addiction, General Election 2015, Gillian Allnut, Leaving Facebook, Leaving Social Media, Mary Oliver, Mourid Barghouti, philip larkin

Advent poems 24: Mary, by Anthony Wilson

Mary At first a fluttering then a kick, his fist pummelling my rib cage when I knelt to pray. They … More

Advent, Advent Poems, Christmas Poems, Mary, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry

Advent poems 23: BC – AD, by U A Fanthorpe

BC – AD This was the moment when BeforeTurned into After, and the future’sUninvented timekeepers presented arms. This was the … More

Advent, Advent Poems, BC -AD, Christmas, Christmas Poems, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry, UA Fanthorpe

Advent poems 22: December, by James Schuyler

December Il va neiger dans quelques jours Francis Jammes The giant Norway spruce from Podunk, its lower branches bound, this … More

Advent, Advent Poems, Christmas Poems, December, James Schuyler, New York Poets, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry

Advent poems 21: Supper, by Beverley Bie Brahic

    Supper Never before has she danced so well. Now she stands before him, her feet bare, Anklets lightly … More

Advent, Advent Poems, Beverley Bie Brahic, Christmas Poems, John the Baptist, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry

Goodbye to being a poet

For reasons I cannot go into here, I am finishing 2019 in a tired frame of mind. (I am not … More

Being a Poet, Being a Writer, Being Creative, Creativity, Life Lessons, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry, Writing, Writing Poems, Writing Poetry, Writing Process

Advent poems 20: Humankind, by Kerry Hardie

Humankind We carry the trust. It was not imposed on us, nor are we heedless. Sometimes the stillness stands in … More

Advent, Advent Poems, Christmas Poems, Kerry Hardie, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry

Advent poems 19: Drunken Winter, by Joseph Ceravolo

  Drunken Winter Oak oak! like like it then     cold some wild paddle so sky then; flea you say “geese … More

Advent Poems, Christmas Poems, Joseph Ceravolo, New York Poets, New York School, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry

Advent poems 18: Ways of Rebelling, by Natalie Handal

  Ways of Rebelling Who needs to be at peace in the world? It helps to be between wars, to … More

Advent, Advent Poems, Christmas Poems, Natalie Handal, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry

Advent poems 17: Ultramarine, by Michael Symmons Roberts

  Ultramarine for Philip Archer   Looking for the perfect blue, water to swim in, not through, to fill his … More

Advent, Advent Poems, Christmas Poems, Michael Symmons Roberts, Poems, Poetry, Poets, Reading, reading poems, Reading Poetry

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ANTHONY WILSON

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