It was going to be great. I wrote it more than seven years ago, in two bursts after work with … More
Tag: Being Creative
On publishing and Christmas
I don’t make new year’s resolutions. I used to, but not any more. It’s not that I don’t want to … More
James Schuyler at 100: ‘Schuyler and Mitchell’, by Tamar Yoseloff
Thank you to Tamar Yoseloff for contributing this fourth post in celebration of James Schuyler’s centenary. In Paris last year, … More
Advent meditation, 11 December 2023
On publishing This year I published a book of poems. It is about grief, love and anger. It seems to … More
Advent meditation, 2 December 2023
On waiting I grew up in a house where we were not encouraged to talk about our accomplishments. (I blame … More
On having allies
I once heard a senior British poet warming to a riff during a reading on the topic of the acknowledgements … More
Advent meditation 3
This time last year, I had begun a third period waiting for a response to a new manuscript of poems. … More
The Kevin Jackson Award
I was privileged to meet and work with the late writer and critic Kevin Jackson in 2011. We tutored a … More
Not much
What’s been happening? Well, not much. Which is another, deflecting, way of saying quite a lot, actually. So much that … More
Lifesaving Lines: Stone, I Presume, by Ian Mcmillan
For several weeks before Christmas I had these words from Ian McMillan’s peerless ‘Stone, I Presume’ rattling around my head. … More
Not exactly good riddance
Just a few hours left of 2021. Time to reflect on what this year has been. Until a week or … More
A list of found poems
Here is a list of various found poems that I have made over the years. Happy holiday reading and looking … More
Writing prompts (blog post ending with a line by Shawna Lemay)
after Shawna Lemay Write a poem about the rain. Or the wind.Write about what you learned at university.Or did not … More
The blank space
Dear Friends Like the closed down (but still creative) shop window of Top Shop I saw on an early morning … More
The bombed cathedral
One of the touchstones that I would add to those I blogged about last week is a marvellous section from … More
Leap before you look
The problem with having had the gleam is that for it to mean anything, work has to ensue. I hate … More
The gleam
When someone asks me am I working on something, I never really know what to say. I want to answer … More
On ‘Goodbye to being a poet’
Just over a year ago I wrote a blog post talking about my ‘tired frame of mind’ and intention to … More