Last Sunday I attended the last ever group meeting and reading of the Mincing Poets, in Exeter. A classic … More
Tag: Ann Gray
Lifesaving Poems: Ann Gray’s ‘mercifully ordain that we may become aged together’
It was such a privilege to read from the cornucopia of talent assembled in Lifesaving Poems at the Greenbelt Festival over … More
Giving up writing
Last week I gave up writing. For about a day. I had been given a book by one of my … More
The whole gang
‘Are you going to do one?’ ‘Who let you in?’ ‘Are you?’ The book has its feet up on my … More
About Maurice
I first met Maurice in the sitting room of a mutual friend, a lifelong Labour supporter, the night after the … More
Lifesaving Poems: Denise Riley’s ‘A Misremembered Lyric’
A Misremembered Lyric, by Denise Riley I heard this poem for the first time a week ago, at the Bodmin … More
Inside Lifesaving Poems 2
Artwork by Angus Joseph Alongside each poem in Lifesaving Poems is a short commentary about how I came across … More
Two new poems at And Other Poems
Two new poems are published today at And Other Poems, curated by Josephine Corcoran. They are Poem Beginning With a … More
Ann Gray’s genius
I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More
Gratitude
I’m grateful to you, you see. I wanted to tell you. –Raymond Carver (‘For Tess’) A kind, wise man once … More
Lifesaving Poems: Dorothy Nimmo’s ‘Rondeau Redouble’
Rondeau Redouble There is so little left. The room is bare. She’ll strip his sheets and blankets by and … More
Lifesaving Poems: Tony Hoagland’s ‘Jet’
Thanks to the recommendation of Naomi Jaffa (again) I had the smug pleasure of already knowing the work of Tony … 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
Lifesaving Poems: Hilary Menos’s ‘Slaughterhouse’
I have said before that one of the most useful things I have done in my life was to be … More
The Top 20 Lifesaving Poems
I began writing the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts in May 2010. The idea was to celebrate the poems that I … More
2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 4,329 films were submitted … More
Lifesaving Poems: Ann Gray’s ‘mercifully ordain that we may become aged together’
Ann Gray and I were chatting the other day. We were trying to decide how long we had known each … More
Lifesaving Poems
I was struck by a remark of Seamus Heaney in an interview he gave some years ago now. He was … More