Northern Sky and remission

When I began to recover from my treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006 this lovely article about Nick Drake’s Northern … More

Lifesaving Poems: Jane Kenyon’s ‘Let Evening Come’

Let Evening Come Let the light of late afternoon shine through chinks in the barn, moving up the bales as … More

The Lack of You Level as any water, constant as clock-time,the lack of you has occupied the house.It is an … More

Deep Third Man(poem for a retired wicket-keeper)That leg-side stumping of yourshangs safe in the memory(if not of the man you … More

On headphones in the day case ward and in my kitchen late at night, Mogwai’s New Paths to the Helicon, … More

Andrew Neilson has reviewed Riddance in Magma poetry magazine. He describes it as a ‘a moving, often harrowing, book, while also … More

Readers of this blog will know of my antipathy to the martial language often used in the culture to describe … More

I wrote here recently about losing my ambition as a writer. In case readers are in any doubt, the stuff … More

This is Jörn Cann. He was my ward doctor at the haematology unit where I was treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma … 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

Towards the end of my treatment for cancer in 2006 I had one of the most profound conversations of my … More

Tomorrow the Church Times publishes a combined review of my memoir of cancer Love for Now and Riddance, my … More

In February, 1999 I was sitting in a car park with Naomi Jaffa when she asked me what I … More

It was great to hear the BBC’s Deputy Political Editor James Landale’s interview about his experience of treatment for cancer … More

I wrote recently about poets who disappear from view, specifically Susannah Amoore, from Faber’s Poetry Introduction 6. My point is far … More

I wrote here a couple of days ago about my aversion to using war metaphor to describe cancer. Judging from … More

A friend of mine drew my attention via Twitter this week to an article detailing Robert Peston’s thoughts on his … More

Nine days after I was told that my chemotherapy treatment was not working in April 2006 the doctors discovered the … More