I Am Not I

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

At the reading

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

Sometimes I think it’s gone forever -Ken Smith I want to write a poem, Seamus Heaney says, but I have … 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

Teachers’ views of creativity is my new research article exploring poetry writing pedagogy. Here is the Abstract: Discourses of creativity in … 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

This is the recording of my reading ‘Life Begins With Cancer’, recorded at the Greenbelt Festival on Sunday 25th August, … More

If you’re not enough without the gold medal, you’ll never be enough with it. – John Candy, Cool Runnings I did not … More