This is the opening question and answer to an interview with Paul Clyne of Poetry Spotlight, published today. With thanks … More
Category: Bloodaxe
Lifesaving Poems: Fleur Adcock’s ‘The Soho Hospital for Women (IV)’
The Soho Hospital for Woman (IV) I am out in the supermarket choosing – this very afternoon, this day … More
Inside Lifesaving Poems 3
As I have said before, there wasn’t a plan. Which does not mean I don’t feel the luckiest man alive … More
Lifesaving Poems: Rosemary Tonks’s ‘The Sofas, Fogs, and Cinemas’
The Sofas, Fogs, and Cinemas I have lived it, and lived it, My nervous, luxury civilisation, My sugar-loving nerves have … More
Inside Lifesaving Poems
The central organising principle of Lifesaving Poems is that each poet is represented by a single poem. There are poets you … More
Lifesaving Poems has arrived
Lifesaving Poems has arrived Well, it has finally arrived. The anthology which began life as a blog, which began life as … More
Lifesaving Poems: Gwen Harwood’s ‘Cups’
Cups They know us by our lips. They know the proverb about the space between us. Many slip. They … More
On Discovering My Voice
I am at a thing. Canals are there. Sunlight on them, the last tourists, a shifting of the seasons. ‘Soon … More
Poetry highlights of 2014
I have so much to be grateful for in 2014. The year began in one of my temporary fits … More
The most read Lifesaving Poems of 2014
Here are the most read Lifesaving Poems of 2014. For the first time I have been able to compare last … More
An interview with Adélia Prado
On the Saturday afternoon of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Festival Director Naomi Jaffa conducted an interew with Adélia Prado, and … More
Thomas Lux’s syntax
I first heard Thomas Lux’s poems before I read them. In the autumn of 2000 I was sent a tape … More
Adélia Prado’s tone
She started as a name. There I was, following my nose, minding my own business, trying to ignore all instincts … More
Lifesaving Poems: the book
Photograph © Bloodaxe Books Ltd I am delighted to announce that my Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts has now become … More
The man kept piling things on
I am driving to a thing. Not a famous thing, an out of the way thing. A classroom, perhaps. … More
Lifesaving Poems: David Scott’s ‘Groundsmen’
Groundsmen The pile of cuttings puts on dreadful weight, swelters in the season, and leaks treacle. Beside it, the … More
Answering Back
Seth Godin says in The Icarus Deception that however many good reviews you are lucky to get for your work, it … More
Lifesaving Poems: Alison Mosquera’s ‘Tamoxifen’
Earlier this year I ran a Poetry School course about poetry and health called Written on the Body. It was … More