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

Recently, my relationship with Wednesdays has changed. It’s quite a long story, and one I don’t want to trouble you … More

The line that’s been buzzing round my head the last couple of weeks is from Robert Lowell’s heartbreaking poem ‘For … More

I was very saddened to hear of the death of Brendan Kennelly this week. He had been a long-standing presence … More

I was at a thing. Very rarely for me, it was my own thing, only my second in front of … More

I thought of it before I knew I had remembered it. Just the word ‘then’. Rereading and searching at speed … More

The YouTube clip below is a recording of a reading I made last week for the University of Exeter Guild … More

As the book might say, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? As the book also might say, I have been … More

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 In this moment when we facehorizons and conflicts widerthan ever before, we want our resources,the ways … More

To safe and almost universal silence I published How Far From Here is Home? (Stride) a few days before Christmas in … More

For reasons I cannot go into here, I am finishing 2019 in a tired frame of mind. (I am not … More

Greenbelt Festival, Friday 23rd August Outside, it is a very warm 28º. Inside our tented venue the canvass and stage … More

As the holiday season continues I repost this list of various found poems that I have made over the … More

Dear James (may I call you James?) Though it’s been a while (at least ten years, maybe more) it feels as … More

Here are my most frequently-read blog posts of 2018, according to my WordPress stats. First, from the Lifesaving Poems … More

‘You don’t sound very ambitious,’ the book says. ‘And good morning to you, too!’ I say. ‘I mean,’ the book … More