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

The real test of a poem

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

By the way, you live

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

No poem to write

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

The fame question

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

Lifesaving Poems: Dave Smith’s ‘Reading the Books Our Children Have Written’

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

Why I miss Robert Rehder

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

Why it’s called Love for Now

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 Write Team: Creative Writers in Schools

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

On disappearing

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

Lifesaving Poems: Tom Raworth’s ‘8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970’

As I say in my previous blog post, I owe my knowledge of ‘8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970’ to the … More