What you read in 2022

Here are the blog posts from 2022 that you read most often Lifesaving Lines: The Death of Fred Clifton, by … More

More places of hope

I said here a couple of years ago that Natalie Jabbar’s blog of curated poems each April is like a … More

Lifesaving Lines: Edge, by Sylvia Plath

But first came Plath. After Ursuala Le Guin, the only female author we studied (OK – Jane Austen). Her name … More

Advent poems

During December 2019 I blogged a series of poems to celebrate the season of Advent. Some of these were about … More

Lifesaving Lines

Thank you to everyone who has commented to me either publicly or in private about my new series of blog … More

New crushes

As I try to hold on to beginner’s mind, I recall the practice of falling in love at a moment’s … More

A list of found poems

Here is a list of various found poems that I have made over the years. Happy holiday reading and looking … More

Writing prompts (blog post ending with a line by Shawna Lemay)

after Shawna Lemay Write a poem about the rain. Or the wind.Write about what you learned at university.Or did not … More

Summer reading

To continue this season of not, where I have been reposting old blog posts and links to some others, I … More

Mind over natter

The YouTube clip below is a recording of a reading I made last week for the University of Exeter Guild … More

What you read in 2020

Here are the blog posts that you read most in 2020 As I click through the links I am surprised … More

Seeds of hope

Introducing Seeds of Hope, the second anthology of poems, prayers, reflections and provocations from the human rights organisation Amos Trust. … More

God’s Grief

God’s Grief Great parentwho must have started outwith such high hopes.What magnitude of suffering,the immensity of guilt,the staggering despair.A mind … More

The most popular lifesaving poems

Earlier this year my Lifesaving Poems blog enjoyed something of a milestone. Not as momentous as Jimmy Anderson taking his … More

The fear of poetry -by Muriel Rukeyser

The Fear of Poetry In this moment when we facehorizons and conflicts widerthan ever before, we want our resources,the ways … More

Lifesaving Poems: Margaret Avison’s ‘Twilight’

Twilight Three minutes ago it was almost dark.Now all the darkness is in theleaves (there are no morelow garage roofs, … More

Lifesaving Poems: Mandy Sutter’s ‘Caring for the Environment’

In 1991 I made the decision to spend more of my time concentrating on the thing that fulfilled me the … More

Lifesaving Poems: Sean O’Brien’s ‘Before’

To safe and almost universal silence I published How Far From Here is Home? (Stride) a few days before Christmas in … More