Lifesaving Lines: What the Living Do, by Marie Howe

Two great lines for the price of one (it is Christmas, after all) this week, from Marie Howe’s extraordinary poem … More

Lifesaving Lines

Thank you to everyone who has commented to me either publicly or in private about my new series of blog … More

We have a lot of windows. I sit next to them at this time of the year thinking, Just five … More

I have been thinking a lot this week about a line from Tomas Tranströmer’s masterpiece, ‘Alone’. (I have also blogged … More

The line that’s been buzzing round my head this week is the final phrase from Michael Laskey’s miracle poem of … More

Recently, my relationship with Wednesdays has changed. It’s quite a long story, and one I don’t want to trouble you … More

The line that’s been buzzing round my head the last couple of weeks is from Robert Lowell’s heartbreaking poem ‘For … More

I was very saddened to hear of the death of Brendan Kennelly this week. He had been a long-standing presence … More

‘Awful but cheerful’ is the final phrase and line of ‘The Bight‘, by Elizabeth Bishop. I’ve always felt that the … More

I was at a thing. Very rarely for me, it was my own thing, only my second in front of … More

I thought of it before I knew I had remembered it. Just the word ‘then’. Rereading and searching at speed … More

As I try to hold on to beginner’s mind, I recall the practice of falling in love at a moment’s … More

One of the great joys for me this summer was being able to get back to Greenbelt, a festival of … More

As I come back to this blog, I am looking to try and inhabit what Zen practitioners call beginner’s mind. … More

I am delighted to announce the publication of some new poems, which you can find at the links below. Having … More

I was very saddened to learn today that the leading Estonian poet Jaan Kaplinski has died, aged 80, of motor … More

I am deeply grateful to Hilary Menos and Andy Brodie at The Friday Poem for taking a new poem of … More

after Shawna Lemay Write a poem about the rain. Or the wind.Write about what you learned at university.Or did not … More