The blanket

Though you may disappear, you’re not forgotten hereAnd I will say to you, I will do what I can do … More

Standing up to cancer?

I am not completely stupid. I know celebrity culture is here to stay. As my children frequently remind me, ‘It … More

I had bumped into a friend at the cash machine. We greeted each other, as we always do, with a … More

Be Kind Not merely because Henry James saidthere were but four rules of life—be kind be kind be kind be … More

The unexamined life’s no different from … More

The Thing Is to love life, to love it evenwhen you have no stomach for itand everything you’ve held dearcrumbles … More

When I am Asked When I am asked how I began writing poems, I talk about the indifference of nature. … More

Dear Arthur Frank I’m writing to say thank you for your extraordinary book At the Will of the Body. It is … 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

Courage It is in the small things we see it. The child’s first step, as awesome as an earthquake. … More

We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found … More

The Layers I have walked through many lives, some of them my own, and I am not who I … More

On the Edge After your mother dies, you will learn to live on the edge of life, to brace … More

I can’t be alone in experiencing the coronavirus crisis and resulting lockdown as something of an infringement on my … More

Here are some places that I have been visiting recently and derived much comfort from. I hope you enjoy them … More

At a guess I’ve been wearing them somewhere around the last ten years. Not having inherited my father’s genius … More

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