To failure!

I listened to the most wonderful radio programme about failure the other day. It featured Anne Enright talking with clear-eyed … More

The stationery thing again

My blog post yesterday about the stationery thing provoked more responses than I ever imagined it would. Among the … More

I was very saddened to learn recently of the death of Michael Baldwin, the novelist, poet, writing tutor and former … More

Dear Anthony I’m writing to let you know what you already know in your bones, as you put it much … More

Once upon a time I broke the rules and spoke with another poet (it doesn’t matter who) about a … More

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

When I visit schools to read and talk about poetry there is often some sort of Q and A following … More

I once heard Stephen Knight say ‘If I am reading well then I am writing well.’ It was a Q … More

It is odd to speak of missing someone you never met, but this is how I feel about the American … More

Love for Now did not begin with an idea but an illness. As I have written elsewhere, there wasn’t a plan. I … More

The Bath Festivals‘ Write Team was a creative writing project designed to develop pupil confidence and engagement in their learning. The … More

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

Sometimes people, including poets, ask me how my writing is going. The difference between a poet and a non-poet asking … More

Nine days after I was told that my chemotherapy treatment was not working in April 2006 the doctors discovered the … More

8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970poemTom Raworth (from Jumpstart, ed. Cliff Yates, Poetry Society, 1999) As I say in my previous blog post, … More

Norman MacCaig’s ‘Aunt Julia’ was the first poem I remember reading which made me think ‘I need to do this’. … More

Elegy for Jane(My student, thrown by a horse)I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;And her quick look, a … More

The Next Big Thing I have been been tagged by poet and blogger Abegail Morley to answer set questions relating to my memoir … More