I met Jean Sprackland in 2000, somewhere in the bowels of the Poetry Society in London. We were meeting to … 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.
Lifesaving Poems: Stephen Berg’s ‘Eating Outside’
Above the desk where I am writing this is a shelf on which sits more than a yard of poetry … More
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 … More
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 … More
Lifesaving Poems: George Messo’s ‘The Beautiful Apartments’
As I wrote in my recent post, I chose to call this series Lifesaving Poems because I actually believe … More
Lifesaving Poems: Brendan Kennelly’s ‘May the Silence Break’
May the Silence Break Because you do not speakI know the shockof water encountering a rock. Supremacy of silence is … More
Lifesaving Poems: Yves Bonnefoy’s ‘Let a Place be Made’
Let a Place be Made Let a place be made for the one who draws near,the one who is deprived … More
More Chelsea Than Sunderland
‘More Chelsea Than Sunderland’ was prompted by the remark of a doctor of a friend of mine, when asked to … More
The Quiet Room
Six years ago today I was told I wasn’t going to die. Those weren’t the words my consultant used, but … More
Lifesaving Poems: Chris Southgate’s ‘High Fidelity’
I first heard Chris Southgate’s ‘High Fidelity’ sometime in 2005, when I was lucky enough to be part of a … More
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’
As I have said before in the Lifesaving Poems series of blogposts, some poets come into your life through the … More
Lifesaving Poems: Patrick Kavanagh’s ‘Wet Evening in April’
Here is what happened halfway through my treatment for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in April 2006. I went for a midway scan … More
Lifesaving Poems: Andy Brown’s ‘Prayer/Why I am Happy to be in the City this Spring’
I absolutely love this poem by Andy Brown. I am not sure when I read or heard it first. Possibly … 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
The Write Team: Creativity, Confidence and Challenge
Yesterday I had the pleasure of giving a talk at the University of Exeter’s CREATEseminar with Emma Metcalfe of Bath … More
Kenneth Koch’s Melancholy
I saw the sign above on a wall during a visit I recently made to a school to talk to … More
Lifesaving Poems 