Lifesaving Poems: Norman MacCaig’s ‘Aunt Julia’

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

Lifesaving Poems: Theodore Roethke’s ‘Elegy for Jane’

I came across ‘Elegy for Jane’ having found poems by Theodore Roethke in Ted Hughes’ classic anthology of poems and … 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

The chances are, more of us are mortal than have multiple orgasms -Violet Weingarten, Intimations of Mortality When I was diagnosed … More

If there is one difference I hope to make with Love for Now book it is to challenge the overwhelming … More

I was formally diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, on Valentine’s Day, 2006. I was 42. … More

Mary At first a fluttering then a kick, his fist pummelling my ribcage when I knelt to pray. They … More

There wasn’t a plan. On January 1, 2006 I woke up with a sharp pain on my right side. I … More

I began writing Love for Now, my journal-memoir of diagnosis and treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006, one week before I … More

I first read ‘Prosser’ in the bookshop in Northwood, where I grew up, on my way into work and back … More

Originally posted on Lifesaving Poems:
I love the silence that descends on a classroom full of people who are all engaged…

I have just come back from the Greenbelt Festival where I was delighted to give a talk about writing poetry … More

In 1991 I made the decision to spend more of my time concentrating on the thing that fulfilled me the … More

I met Jean Sprackland in 2000, somewhere in the bowels of the Poetry Society in London. We were meeting to … More