Lifesaving Poems: Helen Dunmore’s ‘In the Desert Knowing Nothing’

In the Desert Knowing Nothing Here I am in the desert knowing nothing, here I am knowing nothing in … More

How to submit poems to a poetry magazine

You’re at a reading, to support a friend. It is not going well. Not your friend, who is quietly stealing … More

The Little Snoring Poetry Group have written to you asking if you would come and read to them some of … More

You go a talk by a Leading Poet. No one you know is there, but still you sit at the … More

I listened to the most wonderful radio programme about failure the other day. It featured Anne Enright talking with clear-eyed … More

Lately I have been pondering the practice of paying attention, vis-à-vis my habit of keeping a notebook to capture impressions, … More

My blog post yesterday about the stationery thing provoked more responses than I ever imagined it would. Among the … More

I was very saddened to learn recently of the death of Michael Baldwin, the novelist, poet, writing tutor and former … More

Twilight Three minutes ago it was almost dark. Now all the darkness is in the leaves (there are no … More

I once heard Andrew Motion give a poetry reading at a day-conference for teachers, writers and writers in education. There … More

The most immediate and forthright analysis of a poem I have seen at any poetry workshop occurred as I passed … More

I am delighted to have two new poems on Josephine Corcoran’s And Other Poems poetry blog. This is where you … More

One of the most powerful performances on my old Faber cassette tape of Ted Hughes reading his poems is ‘Bride … More

Damp white imprints dog the feet; snowbound trolley, snowbound street. Her tip of glove to lip and cheek, “Goodbye.” Go. … More

My wife and I are at the airport of a European capital city. It’s late on a Friday evening, the … More

The third Writing Research Across Borders conference takes place this week in Paris. I will be presenting a poster of … More

I have been thinking a lot recently about final lines of poems. I’ve always been fond of Seamus Heaney’s comment about … More

The Day After I made a leek and potato soup the day after, prompted by the look of the peeled … More