Lifesaving Poems: WN Herbert’s ‘The Black Wet’

Continuing in this mini-series of poems I shared in my reading at the Greenbelt festival last weekend, here is The … More

Aldeburgh and silence

Mark Doty had it. And John Hartley Williams. And Esther Morgan. And Roy Blackman, introducing Mark Doty talking about Whitman. … More

I love watching poets having fun. Think of Don Paterson shooting the breeze with Bill Herbert in the South Bank … More

W.H. Auden once said that writers should always be honest, even about their prejudices. So here is my confession: when … More

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

In 2002 I heard WN Herbert read ‘The Black Wet’ at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. This is not remarkable in itself, you might say, and … More