A day so happy

Gift A day so happy.Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden.Hummingbirds were stopping over the honeysuckle flowers.There was no … More

This was just a crow

My Crow A crow flew into the tree outside my window. It was not Ted Hughes’s crow, or Galway’s crow. … More

Riddance has been reviewed by cancer patients, and former patients, under the aegis of Macmillan Cancer Support. You can find out … More

Once upon a time I broke the rules and spoke with another poet (it doesn’t matter who) about a … More

I Am Not I I am not I. I am this one walking beside me whom I do not … More

I get to the reading on time. I find a place near the front, so I can get to the … More

Seth Godin says in The Icarus Deception that however many good reviews you are lucky to get for your work, it … More

I have been thinking a lot recently about the gap between what is expected of us and what we think … More

I have been thinking a lot recently about Tomas Tranströmer’s poem ‘Alone’. When I first read it I was taken … More

When I visit schools to read and talk about poetry there is often some sort of Q and A following … More

Dear Anthony (I will never get used to calling you Tony) Here are some words of advice from your nearing-fifty-year-old … More

I began the year with two books which helped me slow down and breathe: Christian McEwen’s World Enough and Time and … More

These are the most read Lifesaving Poems posts of 2013. Mary Oliver, ‘The Journey’ I first read this on … More

Herod With Wikileaks in the headlines you could say the timing was perfect. Three Iraqi profs … More

Two readings stood out for me in 2013. The first was at an arts centre in the middle of nowhere … More

Mary At first a fluttering then a kick, his fist pummelling my ribcage when I knelt to pray. They … More

The Holiday Inn Northerners. But honest. Him, hands like shovels, his eyes brimming and fish-flick. And her, … More

Joseph They say there are signs. Not with her. I’m no professor but neither am I stupid. … More