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

How’s the poetry going?

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

I wrote here a couple of days ago about my aversion to using war metaphor to describe cancer. Judging from … More

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

I have published a new poem in the style of Kenneth Koch, On Twitter, at Ink Sweat & Tears. Whether … More

Today is the seventh anniversary of my diagnosis with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL), an aggressive cancer of the lymphatic system. I … More

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 4,329 films were submitted … More

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

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

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

Herod With Wikileaks in the headlines you could say the timing was perfect. Three Iraqi profs in … More

Photo: Derek Adams Some writers influence you through the pull of their imagination on your work, opening up new worlds … More

I began writing this poem in 1996 in response to the election of a BNP councillor in Tower Hamlets, the … More

For the last two years I have been commissioned to write poems on the nativity story for the Exeter Network Church carol … More