I have just come back from the Greenbelt Festival where I was delighted to give a talk about writing poetry … More
Category: Poems
Lifesaving Poems: Mandy Sutter’s ‘Caring for the Environment’
Caring for the EnvironmentIn Wonderland, they say ‘Drink Me’but in Leeds they shoulder the bin asidesaying ‘Take me to the … More
Lifesaving Poems: Ian McMillan’s ‘On The Impossibility of Staying Alive’
On the Impossibility of Staying Alive They have found a new moon; it stands on my shoulder. They call it … More
Lifesaving Poems: Thom Gunn’s ‘Autobiography’
AutobiographyThe sniff of the real, that’swhat I’d want to get how it feltto sit on ParliamentHill on a May eveningstudying … More
Lifesaving Poems: Michael Laskey’s ‘Bike’
BikeYou, who have borne three sonsof mine, still bear my weightroutinely, transporting me.An odd pair: your classic sparelines – elbows, … More
More Chelsea Than Sunderland
More Chelsea Than Sunderlandfor Humphrey PottsYour doctor’s line predicting your survival tickled mewatching Terry lift the trophy before the World … More
Lifesaving Poems: Chris Southgate’s ‘High Fidelity’
High FidelityThe man sits above the tracksat Bristol Parkway. He drinks tea,studies the distance.He notes the numbers of trains.With the … More
Lifesaving Poems: Andy Brown’s ‘Prayer/Why I am Happy to be in the City this Spring’
Prayer/Why I am Happy to be in the City this Springfor creepers etched across a wall like the marble veins … More
Lifesaving Poems: On Hugo Williams and Douglas Dunn
I can remember exactly where I was when I first read these poems. It was on the balcony of the … More
Kenneth Koch’s Melancholy
To My Heart at the Close of DayAt dusk light you come to batAs George Trakl might put it. How … More
Lifesaving Poems: Sharon Olds’s ‘Looking at Them Asleep’
Looking at Them Asleep When I come home late at night and go in to kiss the children,I see my … More
Lifesaving Poems: Julia Darling’s ‘Chemotherapy’ vs ‘Psalm 102’
I was astonished to find in an old diary today that by 8 March 2006, less than one month after … More
Miracle Fair -by Wislawa Szymborska
This week saw the death of poet and Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szmborska. She was 88. Her compatriot Czeslaw Milosz described … More
Lifesaving Poems: Marin Sorescu’s ‘With Only One Life’
With Only One LifeHold with both handsThe tray of every dayAnd pass in turnAlong this counter.There is enough sunFor everybody.There … More
Lifesaving Poems: Jackie Kay’s ‘Dusting the Phone’
Dusting the PhoneI am spending my time imagining the worst that could happen.I know this is not a good idea, … More
A Few Odds and Sods
By this time in January, 2006 I was fairly certain that something was very wrong with my health. Like a … More
In search of the ‘Tyger’: power relationships and poetry in the classroom
When I began teaching the Year 5 class of children whose work would form the basis of my doctoral study … More
Lifesaving Poems: Ann Gray’s ‘mercifully ordain that we may become aged together’
mercifully ordain that we may become aged togetherTobit 8.7 I was in the Canadian Muffin Company in Armada Way,waiting for … More
Lifesaving Poems 