Don Paterson’s ‘Oh God’ moment

The most immediate and forthright analysis of a poem I have seen at any poetry workshop occurred as I passed … More

Bringing each other to perfection

One of the most powerful performances on my old Faber cassette tape of Ted Hughes reading his poems is ‘Bride … More

In the spring of 1998 I wrote to Seamus Heaney. I asked him to consider writing a Foreword to the … More

I once heard Stephen Knight say ‘If I am reading well then I am writing well.’ It was a Q … More

‘A Lyric Afterwards’ was the poem in which I finally got Tom Paulin. I had been given a tape of him … More

To His Lost Lover Now they are no longerany trouble to each other he can turn things over, get down … More

And sometimes you don’t know where it comes from. It appears as a heat, prickly, under your skin, your scalp. … More

I have been thinking a lot recently about the career trajectory of poets, including my own, whose work briefly becomes visible … More

Some of my favourite poetry books of all time are anthologies. Not the headline selections everybody has (and has to … More