High FidelityThe man sits above the tracksat Bristol Parkway. He drinks tea,studies the distance.He notes the numbers of trains.With the … More
Author: Anthony Wilson
In Praise of PGCE Students
PGCE students are so dedicated. They burn with desire to be amazing. They hand in their work and have beautifully … More
Lifesaving Poems: Elizabeth Jennings’s ‘A Letter to Peter Levi’
A Letter to Peter LeviReading your poems I am awareof translucencies, of birds hoveringover estuaries, of glass being spun for … More
Lifesaving Poems: Patrick Kavanagh’s ‘Wet Evening in April’
Wet Evening in AprilThe birds sang in the wet treesAnd as I listened to them it was a hundred years … More
Lifesaving Poems: Andy Brown’s ‘Prayer/Why I am Happy to be in the City this Spring’
Prayer/Why I am Happy to be in the City this Springfor creepers etched across a wall like the marble veins … More
On hearing the word ‘discharge’ for the first time
I never thought I would actually get to hear the word ‘discharge’ at the haematology unit where I was treated for non-Hodgkin’s … More
Lifesaving Poems: On Hugo Williams and Douglas Dunn
I can remember exactly where I was when I first read these poems. It was on the balcony of the … More
Kenneth Koch’s Melancholy
To My Heart at the Close of DayAt dusk light you come to batAs George Trakl might put it. How … More
Lifesaving Poems: Sharon Olds’s ‘Looking at Them Asleep’
Looking at Them Asleep When I come home late at night and go in to kiss the children,I see my … More
Lifesaving Poems: Julia Darling’s ‘Chemotherapy’ vs ‘Psalm 102’
I was astonished to find in an old diary today that by 8 March 2006, less than one month after … More
Creativity, Confidence and Challenge: The Write Team Research Report
‘I’ve learnt to be more confident with my ideas, because sometimes you have an idea that you just sort of … More
7 things I have learned about cancer
Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of my diagnosis with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL), an aggressive cancer of the lymphatic system. I … More
Miracle Fair -by Wislawa Szymborska
This week saw the death of poet and Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szmborska. She was 88. Her compatriot Czeslaw Milosz described … More
On waiting to be diagnosed with cancer
Six years ago I began writing the journal which has become my forthcoming memoir of my experience of cancer. It … More
Lifesaving Poems: Marin Sorescu’s ‘With Only One Life’
With Only One LifeHold with both handsThe tray of every dayAnd pass in turnAlong this counter.There is enough sunFor everybody.There … More
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, … More
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 … More
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 … More