We are in Richard and Andi’s kitchen in their minuscule flat on the Wandsworth Road in the early nineties. Richard … More
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.
The Year of of Living Deeply
S … More
Saying goodbye
It’s a funny feeling, almost new each time I experience it, an anticipation of loss that is somehow fresh and … More
Lifesaving Poems: Stuart Pickford’s ‘The Curtain Falls’
The Curtain Falls Suddenly a life is over – Ends with such serious charades The Dean makes lame quips … More
Towards a model of poetry writing development
As promised last week, here is my presentation of the paper I co-wrote with Sue Dymoke in which we argue on … More
Letter to a younger poet
Listening to the wonderful array of speakers at the Foyle Young Poets symposium on Monday, I tried to think back … More
Poetry writing as a socially mediated process
‘Even the poetic world is social’ (Bakhtin, 1981, 300). This time next week, Saturday 23 June, I will be presenting … More
Lifesaving Poems: Carrie Fountain’s ‘Poem Without Sleep’
Poem Without Sleep All the things that could happen to the baby came to me last night as I … More
Nowhere Poet
It is odd to speak of missing someone you never met, but this is how I feel about the American … More
A Fergus
My first reader was a man called Fergus. A friend of a flatmate at university, I never got to … More
Lifesaving Poems: Tom Andrews’s ‘Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital’
Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital 1 The IV drips its slow news. So long, lean and turbulent morning! … More
Lifesaving Poems: Kathryn Simmonds’s ‘In a Church’
In a Church No, no time for this the outside clamours to be heard, the books, you see, … More
On a failure
Here is a story about a recent failure of mine. It all started with an idea, which I knew, just … More
Sleep, mostly
‘What else are you guilty about?’ ‘Most things,’ I say. ‘It doesn’t stop with poetry, you know. Or those unread … More
Escape to the Chateau
’Anything else?’ the book says. ’What do you mean?’ ’That you want to tell me?’ There is a long silence, … More
The world expert on John Ashbery
‘What else are you not telling me?’ says the book. ‘Nothing,’ I say. The book rolls its eyes, gives a … More
Kind of ashamed
‘What you reading?’ says the book. ‘Nothing.’ ‘No need to be shy,’ says the book. ‘Go on, what is it?’ … More
The New York Times bestseller list
‘What’s wrong?’ says the book. ‘Nothing,’ I say. ‘Liar.’ ‘Am not.’ ‘Are.’ ‘Aren’t.’ ‘Pants on fire. You’re hopeless. You should … More
Lifesaving Poems 