Just over a year ago I wrote a blog post talking about my ‘tired frame of mind’ and intention to … More
Category: Writing
Open letter to Arthur Frank (on reading At the Will of the Body)
Dear Arthur Frank I’m writing to say thank you for your extraordinary book At the Will of the Body. It is … More
The fear of poetry -by Muriel Rukeyser
The Fear of Poetry In this moment when we facehorizons and conflicts widerthan ever before, we want our resources,the ways … More
Go well
I have walked into the grief. I have walked into brave space, mine and others’. I have sat in … More
Courage
Courage It is in the small things we see it.The child’s first step,as awesome as an earthquake.The first time … More
A review and some recordings
I am delighted to announce that Matthew Stewart of Rogue Strands has written a generous review of The Afterlife, the … More
What you read in 2019
Here are my most popular blog posts of 2019. As you will have seen, I am taking a brief sabbatical … More
Advent poems 11: In Praise of Darkness, by Jorge Louis Borges
In Praise of Darkness Old age (the name that others give it)can be the time of our greatest bliss.The … More
Advent poems: A new series starting tomorrow
Tomorrow is Sunday 1st December, the start of Advent. Each day during December I am going to post a … More
Kind of to a desk
Thank you to the heroic bloggers and poets Josephine Corcoran and Robin Houghton for their recentish posts about their desks. … More
In service of silence
Shute Festival, 13 September, St Michael’s Church The audience in pews. September sunlight and warmth still in the air, light … More
An interview at Wombwell Rainbow
Paul Brookes at Wombwell Rainbow has posted an interview with me about my reading and writing life, my influences … More
Notebooks are taking over my life
I am love with making notes. I makes notes in the morning, at bedtime, in the private places, in meetings, … More
Climate Sorrow: A found poem, by Susie Orbach
Climate Sorrow Climate Sorrow To comeinto knowingis to comeinto sorrow. A sorrowthat arrivesas a thud,deadening and fearful.Sorrowis hardto bear. With … More
The Year of Living Deeply 25: Socks
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You are close at hand yet very far away. So long since I have … More
Between seasons
I love this time of year. The city still seems to belong to itself. Mornings are still mornings, not a … More
Against forgetting
I write a lot of things down. In part this is because I no longer remember anything. If I do … More
The real new year
I love this time of year. There is a wonderful Anne Lamott line somewhere about the welcome of the cooler … More
