Advent poems 12: Borders, by Peter Carpenter

Borders Ground Floor between Fiction and Poetry. The second time in as many days. It comes at me. … More

Influences: my first reader

My first reader was a man called Fergus. A friend of a flatmate at university, I never got to … More

I have so much to be grateful for in 2014. The year began in one of my temporary fits … More

At the start of each academic year, usually when I have known them for a week or so, I make … More

I’m grateful to you, you see. I wanted to tell you. –Raymond Carver (‘For Tess’) A kind, wise man once … More

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

Readers who have followed my Lifesaving Poems series will know by now that there isn’t and wasn’t a plan about … More

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

8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970poemTom Raworth (from Jumpstart, ed. Cliff Yates, Poetry Society, 1999) As I say in my previous blog post, … More

Saint Francis and the SowThe budstands for all things,even for those things that don’t flower,for everything flowers, from within, of … More

I have just been asked by Abegail Morley to send her a list of my poetry books of 2012 for … More

Nightwatchmanan elegyMouth set. So far, noughtnot out, having dabbed atthe spinner who’d been giving itsome air. Hands soft – taking … More

Riddance is published today. It is my fourth full-length collection of poems and my third with Worple Press. You can … More