The poetry of Gianluca Vialli

The great Sampdoria, Juventus and Chelsea striker Gianluca Vialli has died, and I am sad. He was 58 and had … More

Summer reading

To continue this season of not, where I have been reposting old blog posts and links to some others, I … More

Dear Cancer It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Fifteen years, to be precise. To the day. Amazing to realise it … More

The way I found out, just as with my diagnosis, was via a segment of a conversation about other things. … More

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

This is the link to the podcast of the interview I gave yesterday on the Arena programme, RTE, about … More

because of the words and because of the books because of the woman in the anorak at the swimming baths … More

It’s hard to describe. One day your are fine, not quite the same (age will do this to you), then … More

Nine years ago today I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells. Even though I have … More

A year ago I had a relapse of my cancer. Except I didn’t. For a week or so I knew … More

Don’t forget, this is inside us every day -Stephen Berg This is not happening. It happened. Past tense. One … More

Today is the seventh anniversary of the day I was told I was officially in remission from cancer. The popular … More

When I began to recover from my treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006 this lovely article about Nick Drake’s Northern … More

Let Evening Come Let the light of late afternoon shine through chinks in the barn, moving up the bales as … More

This is Jörn Cann. He was my ward doctor at the haematology unit where I was treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma … More

Towards the end of my treatment for cancer in 2006 I had one of the most profound conversations of my … More

It was great to hear the BBC’s Deputy Political Editor James Landale’s interview about his experience of treatment for cancer … More

I wrote recently about poets who disappear from view, specifically Susannah Amoore, from Faber’s Poetry Introduction 6. My point is far … More