Poetry highlights of 2014

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

Lifesaving poems of summer

Now that we have finally had one in the UK, I found myself wondering recently how many of my Lifesaving Poems choices … More

The stationery thing

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

Gratitude

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

Lifesaving Poems: Yorifumi Yaguchi’s Praying Mantis

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

Chemo reading

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

Lifesaving Poems: Tom Raworth’s ‘8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970’

As I say in my previous blog post, I owe my knowledge of ‘8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970’ to the … More