The Four of Us (a new poem)

I am delighted to have The Four of Us, a new poem, in London Grip New Poetry, which you can find … More

A new poem, ‘S’, from Antiphon Issue 12

I am delighted to be included in Issue Twelve of Antiphon poetry magazine. You can read my new poem, ‘S’, … More

One of the biggest influences on my life, let alone my writing, is Martin Wilson. I should know; he’s my … More

Dear Ant So you’ve had your first chemotherapy treatment. That first night, when you came home and carried the sick … More

I am delighted to have two new poems on Josephine Corcoran’s And Other Poems poetry blog. This is where you … More

The third Writing Research Across Borders conference takes place this week in Paris. I will be presenting a poster of … More

We walked into the brunt light, towards the hospital. The air was dry, February-cold. Traffic was going about its … More

One year go I celebrated with friends the publication of Love for Now, my journal-memoir of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of … More

Dear Anthony I’m writing to let you know what you already know in your bones, as you put it much … More

I get to the reading on time. I find a place near the front, so I can get to the … More

I have been thinking a lot recently about the gap between what is expected of us and what we … More

When I visit schools to read and talk about poetry there is often some sort of Q and A following … More

Dear Anthony (I will never get used to calling you Tony) Here are some words of advice from your nearing-fifty-year-old … More

Herod With Wikileaks in the headlines you could say the timing was perfect. Three Iraqi profs … More

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

The Holiday Inn Northerners. But honest. Him, hands like shovels, his eyes brimming and fish-flick. And her, … More

Joseph They say there are signs. Not with her. I’m no professor but neither am I stupid. … More

I’m grateful to you, you see. I wanted to tell you. –Raymond Carver (‘For Tess’) A kind, wise man once … More

A couple of weeks after I finished my radiotherapy treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in October 2006 I bought Jane Kenyon’s … More

I came across Hubert Moore’s fantastic book of poems The Hearing Room (Shoetstring, 2006) via my friend and neighbour Lawrence Sail. In … More

Love for Now did not begin with an idea but an illness. As I have written elsewhere, there wasn’t a plan. I … More