Pure distraction

In the rift between what is going to happen and whatever we would wish to happen, poetry holds attention for … More

Inside Lifesaving Poems 3

As I have said before, there wasn’t a plan. Which does not mean I don’t feel the luckiest man alive … More

I have just come back from a thing. I am tired. A good afternoon of good conversation about large, important … More

Heaven on Earth Now that it is night, you fetch the wash from outer space, from the frozen … More

Hamlet The buzz subsides. I have come on stage. Leaning in an open door I try to detect from … More

The Burning Of The Houses Tottenham is on fire and I work in an arts centre where the sky is … More

Here are the most read Lifesaving Poems of 2014. For the first time I have been able to compare last … More

In preparation for this year’s Aldeburgh Poetry Festival I was asked some questions about my blogging by Festival programmer Dean … More

The Burning Of The Houses Tottenham is on fire and I work in an arts centre where the sky is … More

I have been asked to judge a thing. A good thing. A serious thing. (But this isn’t about that. We … More

Photograph © Bloodaxe Books Ltd I am delighted to announce that my Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts has now become … More

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

I met the furniture designer Duncan Kramer at summer camp. Not as kids but as what we laughingly called leaders. … 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

I have been thinking a lot recently about final lines of poems. I’ve always been fond of Seamus Heaney’s comment about … More

Sometimes I think it’s gone forever -Ken Smith I want to write a poem, Seamus Heaney says, but I have … More

Dear Anthony (I will never get used to calling you Tony) Here are some words of advice from your nearing-fifty-year-old … More