Lifesaving Poems: Norman MacCaig’s ‘Aunt Julia’

Norman MacCaig’s ‘Aunt Julia’ was the first poem I remember reading which made me think ‘I need to do this’. … More

Lifesaving Poems: Hilary Menos’s ‘Slaughterhouse’

Slaughterhouse Let it be done here, here where deathis all in a day’s work, and by men who dealin the … More

What It’s Like To Be Aliveafter Django BatesI remember the nights, and the sounds of the nights,and the moon and … More

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts in May 2010. The idea was to celebrate the poems that I … More

Elegy for Jane(My student, thrown by a horse)I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;And her quick look, a … More

EraThe twenty-second day of March two thousand and threeI left home shortly after eight thirtyon foot towards the City. I … More

Sunday LunchtimeThe whirlpools of the launderettedo not recognise the Sabbath,so the air in Worple Streetsmells of soapsuds and roast beef.The … More

Seven years ago today, the date in the photograph above was the day I knew had cancer. By this … More

Saint Francis and the SowThe budstands for all things,even for those things that don’t flower,for everything flowers, from within, of … More

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts in May 2010. The idea was to celebrate the poems … More

Down by the Station Early in the Morning It all wears out. I keep telling myself this, butI can never … More

I have just been asked by Abegail Morley to send her a list of my poetry books of 2012 for … More

A MorningI have carried it with me each day: that morning I tookmy uncle’s boat from the brown water coveand … More

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

Kin“You make me sick!” this, with rancor, vehemence, disgust—again, “You hear me? Sick!”with rancor, vehemence, disgust again, with rage and … More

Yesterday was a good day and a sad say. A good day because Smiths Knoll, the poetry magazine edited by … More

ProsserIn winter two kinds of fields on the hillsoutside Prosser: fields of new green wheat, the slipsrising overnight out of … More

Photograph in a Stockholm Newspaper For March 13, 1910Here is a family so little famoustheir names were not recorded. They … More