Workshopping Settee in Autumn

Settee in Autumn The leaves change colour and fall on the russet settee. Sticky buds are stuck … More

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

I have been wondering recently if the world of the poem (the one that is currently not-here, just out of … More

because of the words and because of the books because of the woman in the anorak at the swimming baths … More

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

Here are the most read Lifesaving Poems of 2014. For the first time I have been able to compare last … More

Everyone who enters the stage begins by saying thank you * That silence * Mostly nearly all the time * … More

By the time you read this I will be far away from here. It has not happened yet, but I … More

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 Clothes are skimpy and tans are got without flight bags. We saunter beside a … More

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

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

Father’s Day 1970 This is the day my father lets us sleep, then brings us tea in bed. The sun … More

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

The Only Son at the Fish ‘n’ Chip Shop He lived with his mother till he was forty-five … More

Rondeau Redouble There is so little left. The room is bare. She’ll strip his sheets and blankets by and … More

Some of my favourite poetry books of all time are anthologies. Not the headline selections everybody has (and has to … More

One of the pleasures of being alive is reading John Ash. Think of a prize-winning poet, someone you think of … More

I have written before that there are a wide range of reasons for including the poems I have in my … More