Just a few hours left of 2021. Time to reflect on what this year has been. Until a week or … More
Category: Being a Poet
Lifesaving Lines
Thank you to everyone who has commented to me either publicly or in private about my new series of blog … More
Lifesaving Lines: Autumn, by Roo Borson
We have a lot of windows. I sit next to them at this time of the year thinking, Just five … More
Lifsaving Lines: Alone, by Tomas Tranströmer
I have been thinking a lot this week about a line from Tomas Tranströmer’s masterpiece, ‘Alone’. (I have also blogged … More
Lifesaving Lines: The Day After, by Michael Laskey
The line that’s been buzzing round my head this week is the final phrase from Michael Laskey’s miracle poem of … More
Lifesaving Lines: Poem for Wednesday, by Naomi Jaffa
Recently, my relationship with Wednesdays has changed. It’s quite a long story, and one I don’t want to trouble you … More
Lifsaving Lines: For Sheridan, by Robert Lowell
The line that’s been buzzing round my head the last couple of weeks is from Robert Lowell’s heartbreaking poem ‘For … More
Lifesaving Lines: Fosterage, by Seamus Heaney
I was very saddened to hear of the death of Brendan Kennelly this week. He had been a long-standing presence … More
Lifesaving Lines: The Gift, by Brendan Kennelly
I was at a thing. Very rarely for me, it was my own thing, only my second in front of … More
Lifesaving Lines: Why We Must Write, by Mark Halliday
I thought of it before I knew I had remembered it. Just the word ‘then’. Rereading and searching at speed … More
A list of found poems
Here is a list of various found poems that I have made over the years. Happy holiday reading and looking … More
Mind over natter
The YouTube clip below is a recording of a reading I made last week for the University of Exeter Guild … More
Head. Space.
As the book might say, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? As the book also might say, I have been … More
Leap before you look
The problem with having had the gleam is that for it to mean anything, work has to ensue. I hate … More
The fear of poetry -by Muriel Rukeyser
The Fear of Poetry In this moment when we facehorizons and conflicts widerthan ever before, we want our resources,the ways … More
Lifesaving Poems: Sean O’Brien’s ‘Before’
To safe and almost universal silence I published How Far From Here is Home? (Stride) a few days before Christmas in … More
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
Afterwards
Greenbelt Festival, Friday 23rd August Outside, it is a very warm 28º. Inside our tented venue the canvass and stage … More