How to attend a poetry reading

Sometime in the early Nineties I did a very brave thing. I took myself to a poetry reading. I went … More

How to disappear

The review isn’t exactly vicious as such, merely purely personal and savage. It stops short of questioning your parentage, but … More

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems posts in May, 2011. Below is a list of the twenty most popular poems … More

You think it will be about your childhood. It turns out to be about an onion. Or a night in … More

For now, at least, it has gone. The notebooks with promising phrases, the backs of envelopes with doodles: they are … More

I have finished the thing. People come up to me to say things. It seems to have gone well. While … More

Seven years ago I published The Year of Drinking Water, a pamphlet of poems, about my experience of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Exeter … More

Here are the text and ppt presentations of my NATE Conference 2014 keynote speech on The Power of Poetry. PDF … More

Now that we have finally had one in the UK, I found myself wondering recently how many of my Lifesaving Poems choices … More

Groundsmen The pile of cuttings puts on dreadful weight, swelters in the season, and leaks treacle. Beside it, the … More

Father’s Day 1970 This is the day my father lets us sleep, then brings us tea in bed. The sun … More

I am in the pub with Rupert. We are talking about planning a thing. It’s definitely going to happen. A … More

I am at a thing. It is my thing, contributing to the thing of others, who I do not know. … More

The book is not in love with me. I shower it with love and promises of more stationery, but all … More

When the Holy Spirit Danced With Me in My Kitchen the first thing I noticed was his arms, … More

I’m talking about real influence now –Raymond Carver This is the first in a new series of blog posts about people … More

I have not read a book in six months -Raymond Carver, ‘Drinking While Driving’ I can still remember the shock … More

Sugar in Banana Sandwiches ‘Still something of the child in you’ she says. I find that hard to swallow … More