When I knew I had cancer

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

Lifesaving Poems: Galway Kinnell’s ‘Saint Francis and the Sow’

I have written before that there are a wide range of reasons for including the poems I have in my … More

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

I was thinking recently about John Ashbery. As I say in my post about my poetry highlights of 2012 one of … More

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

I fell in love with the poetry of Mark Strand via the enthusiasm of Rupert Loydell sometime in the late … More

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 4,329 films were submitted … More

In the spring of 1999 I got the best education in poetry I have ever had. I was in Suffolk, … More

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

I first read ‘Prosser’ in the bookshop in Northwood, where I grew up, on my way into work and back … More

Isn’t Twitter a marvellous thing? Following a link on a tweet of Jeanne Duperreault last week I came across the Canadian Poetry Online … More

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems posts in June 2011, back when I was using Posterous for this blog. … More

Everything is Going to be All Right How should I not be glad to contemplatethe clouds clearing beyond the dormer … More

The first thing I do when a new copy of The North, Rialto or Smiths Knoll lands on the doormat … More

I met Peter Carpenter in the summer of 2001 at the Arvon Foundation’s Totleigh Barton writing centre. I was at … More

I Am a Finn I am standing in the post office, about to mail a package back to Minnesota, to … More

Night Drive The smells of ordinarinessWere new on the night drive through France;Rain and hay and woods on the airMade … More

I have just come back from the Greenbelt Festival where I was delighted to give a talk about writing poetry … More