I am minding my own business, putting out some rubbish, when it happens. An elderly man I know, a neighbour, … More
Category: Writing
Guest Blog Post: On Literary Envy, by Robin Houghton
On Literary Envy “Comparison is the thief of joy” –Teddy Roosevelt You wake up one morning. You check in … More
Guest Blog Post: Dear Diary, by Josephine Corcoran
This is the second in a series of Guest Blog Posts that I am hosting this year. More are … More
The missing blog post
after and with apologies to Mark Halliday The missing blog post has gone AWOL. Never sure of its place in … More
A review of Lifesaving Poems
My deep thanks to Maria Taylor, who has written the most lovely appreciation of Lifesaving Poems. Thank you Maria for capturing its … More
Homesick
“A poem begins with a lump in the throat; a homesickness or a love sickness. It is a reaching-out toward … More
Inside Lifesaving Poems 5
An artist needs not so much an audience, as to feel a need to answer, a promise to respond. Robert … More
Inside Lifesaving Poems 4
I have been moving. Not moving house, moving within it. Stuff has come with me, some of it has vanished … More
Open letter to Peter Sansom on reading Careful What You Wish For
Dear Peter Cover-to-cover and back-to-back twice, as I do, once before sleeping, then between zeds on a train woken to Tickets, … More
Lifesaving Poems interview podcast
This is the link to the podcast of the interview I gave yesterday on the Arena programme, RTE, about … More
Lifesaving Poems: Rosemary Tonks’s ‘The Sofas, Fogs, and Cinemas’
The Sofas, Fogs, and Cinemas I have lived it, and lived it, My nervous, luxury civilisation, My sugar-loving nerves have … More
Lifesaving Poems: Denise Riley’s ‘A Misremembered Lyric’
A Misremembered Lyric, by Denise Riley I heard this poem for the first time a week ago, at the Bodmin … More
Inside Lifesaving Poems 2
Artwork by Angus Joseph Alongside each poem in Lifesaving Poems is a short commentary about how I came across … More
Guest blog post: Hands like these, by Beverly Rycroft
This is the first in a series of guest blog posts by writers I admire. Having enjoyed speaking and reading … More
Lifesaving Poems has arrived
Lifesaving Poems has arrived Well, it has finally arrived. The anthology which began life as a blog, which began life as … More
Ted Hughes coming out of the radio
I have been wondering recently if the world of the poem (the one that is currently not-here, just out of … More
The Invisible College
I have just come back from a thing. I am tired. A good afternoon of good conversation about large, important … More
A new poem in support of Mental Health Awareness Week 2015
I am delighted to have a new poem, To Spring, published today at Sarah James’s blog, in With You In … More