I Am Not I

I Am Not I I am not I. I am this one walking beside me whom I do not … More

Cancer patients’ reviews of Love for Now

My memoir of cancer, Love for Now, has been reviewed by cancer patients, and former patients, under the aegis of Macmillan … More

I get to the reading on time. I find a place near the front, so I can get to the … More

Sometimes I think it’s gone forever -Ken Smith I want to write a poem, Seamus Heaney says, but I have … More

I have been thinking a lot recently about the gap between what is expected of us and what we think … More

Just as I do not go around thinking about my cancer all the time, there are times when I feel … More

When I visit schools to read and talk about poetry there is often some sort of Q and A following … More

Dear Anthony (I will never get used to calling you Tony) Here are some words of advice from your nearing-fifty-year-old … More

An old friend of mine wrote to me the other day, out of the blue, to tell me about … More

Two readings stood out for me in 2013. The first was at an arts centre in the middle of nowhere … More

This is the recording of my reading ‘Life Begins With Cancer’, recorded at the Greenbelt Festival on Sunday 25th August, … More

If you’re not enough without the gold medal, you’ll never be enough with it. – John Candy, Cool Runnings I did not … More

Things I Learned at University How to bike on cobblestones and where to signal right. How to walk through doors … More

Phil Bowen gave me this poem, written by a ten-year-old girl, in 1998 to illustrate a writing game he submitted … More

A year ago I published Riddance, a book of poems, with Worple Press. It concerns my diagnosis and experience of cancer … More

Today is the seventh anniversary of the day I was told I was officially in remission from cancer. The popular … More

Thank you to Julia McGuinness for posting this interview with me on her Creative Connections blog. In it I discuss … More

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