On a spring day as far from ‘late in dour October’ it would be harder to imagine, James Schuyler’s The … More
Category: Writing
Book news for 2023
I am delighted to announce that Blue Diode have accepted my new poetry manuscript and will publish my sixth collection, … More
Lifesaving Lines: Stone, I Presume, by Ian Mcmillan
For several weeks before Christmas I had these words from Ian McMillan’s peerless ‘Stone, I Presume’ rattling around my head. … More
Not exactly good riddance
Just a few hours left of 2021. Time to reflect on what this year has been. Until a week or … More
Lifesaving Lines
Thank you to everyone who has commented to me either publicly or in private about my new series of blog … More
Lifesaving Lines: The Day After, by Michael Laskey
The line that’s been buzzing round my head this week is the final phrase from Michael Laskey’s miracle poem of … More
Who are we serving?
One of the great joys for me this summer was being able to get back to Greenbelt, a festival of … More
In search of beginner’s mind
As I come back to this blog, I am looking to try and inhabit what Zen practitioners call beginner’s mind. … More
Some new poems
I am delighted to announce the publication of some new poems, which you can find at the links below. Having … More
Lone wolf
I am deeply grateful to Hilary Menos and Andy Brodie at The Friday Poem for taking a new poem of … More
Writing prompts (blog post ending with a line by Shawna Lemay)
after Shawna Lemay Write a poem about the rain. Or the wind.Write about what you learned at university.Or did not … More
Mind over natter
The YouTube clip below is a recording of a reading I made last week for the University of Exeter Guild … More
Head. Space.
As the book might say, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? As the book also might say, I have been … More
The blank space
Dear Friends Like the closed down (but still creative) shop window of Top Shop I saw on an early morning … More
The bombed cathedral
One of the touchstones that I would add to those I blogged about last week is a marvellous section from … More
Leap before you look
The problem with having had the gleam is that for it to mean anything, work has to ensue. I hate … More
The gleam
When someone asks me am I working on something, I never really know what to say. I want to answer … More
Poem of the year?
Before I start, I want to say that this is not about stats. This is not about stats. What this … More
Lifesaving Poems 