I quit

I am at a thing. A historic thing. (An historic thing? I will never know). Poets are there. Household names. … More

Poetry and illness

Medicine The black hair of my Chinese doctor gleams like combed ink as he leans over his desk, with quick … 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

Ann Gray’s genius

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

Saying goodbye to Smiths Knoll

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

The Good, in memory of Anna Craft

My friend and colleague Anna Craft has died. She was famous -if that is the right word- as a researcher … More

T.S. Eliot’s ‘Hysteria’

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

Teaching people who hate poetry

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

Eating Outside, by Stephen Berg

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

Taking a break

  With the exception of some posts about poets featured at this year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, I am going to … More

The People of the Other Village, by Thomas Lux

One of the poets I am most looking forward to listening to at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in November is … More

Lifesaving Poems: Naomi Shihab Nye’s ‘The Art of Disappearing’

The Art of Disappearing When they say Don’t I know you?say no. When they invite you to the partyremember what … 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

How to be a writing tutor

Thanks to the vision and generosity of Jean Sprackland, between 1999-2001 I had the privilege of working with the great … More

How to attend a poetry reading

Sometime in the early Nineties I did a very brave thing. I took myself to a poetry reading. I went … More

The most popular Lifesaving Poems

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems posts in May, 2011. Below is a list of the twenty most popular poems … More

The power of poetry (free download) #NATEconf

Here are the text and ppt presentations of my NATE Conference 2014 keynote speech on The Power of Poetry. PDF … 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