Settee in Autumn The leaves change colour and fallon the russet settee. Sticky buds are stuckdown the back of the … More
Category: Peter Sansom
Open letter to Peter Sansom on reading Careful What You Wish For
Dear Peter Cover-to-cover and back-to-back twice, as I do, once before sleeping, then between zeds on a train woken to Tickets, … More
Ted Hughes coming out of the radio
I have been wondering recently if the world of the poem (the one that is currently not-here, just out of … More
Why do it?
because of the words and because of the books because of the woman in the anorak at the swimming baths … 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
Poetry highlights of 2014
I have so much to be grateful for in 2014. The year began in one of my temporary fits … More
The most read Lifesaving Poems of 2014
Here are the most read Lifesaving Poems of 2014. For the first time I have been able to compare last … More
Mostly all the time nearly everything
Everyone who enters the stage begins by saying thank you * That silence * Mostly nearly all the time * … More
On generosity
By the time you read this I will be far away from here. It has not happened yet, but I … More
The soldier, the cauliflower, the walking, the monkey and the man’s bottom
Sitting over toast and marmalade with Peter Sansom yesterday morning he said to me: ‘I don’t bother with novels any … More
It is summer for months
It Is Summer for Months Clothes are skimpy and tans are got without flight bags. We saunter beside a … 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
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
Lifesaving Poems: Kath McKay’s Father’s Day 1970
Father’s Day 1970 This is the day my father lets us sleep, then brings us tea in bed. The sun … 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: Geoff Hattersley’s ‘The Only Son at the Fish ‘n’ Chip Shop’
The Only Son at the Fish ‘n’ Chip Shop He lived with his mother till he was forty-five … More
Lifesaving Poems: Dorothy Nimmo’s ‘Rondeau Redouble’
Rondeau Redouble There is so little left. The room is bare. She’ll strip his sheets and blankets by and … More
When poets disappear
Some of my favourite poetry books of all time are anthologies. Not the headline selections everybody has (and has to … More