The fame question

When I visit schools to read and talk about poetry there is often some sort of Q and A following … More

New Year Letter

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

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

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

I’m grateful to you, you see. I wanted to tell you. –Raymond Carver (‘For Tess’) A kind, wise man once … More

Morning on Earth Morning on earth, light snow, and just when it was so warm, practically spring. But the thermometer … More

Things I Learned at University How to bike on cobblestones and where to signal right. How to walk through doors … More

Hysteria As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved in her laughter and being part of it, until her … More

Phil Bowen gave me this poem, written by a ten-year-old girl, in 1998 to illustrate a writing game he submitted … More

In the spring of 1998 I wrote to Seamus Heaney. I asked him to consider writing a Foreword to the … More

A comment Mark Robinson made in the days following Seamus Heaney’s death in August resonated with me. He said he … More

The Only Son at the Fish ‘n’ Chip Shop He lived with his mother till he was forty-five … More

How It All Started Do you know this dream? An exam room full of neat, serious girls, your lucky gonk … More