Lifesaving Poems: Tom Andrews’s ‘Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital’

Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital 1 The IV drips its slow news. So long, lean and turbulent morning! … More

On Being Chipper

There were just a few of us in the room, gathered round a table. I had been invited to … More

A Tuesday, appropriately. (Tuesday being the day I was formally diagnosed.) Poetic, it strikes me now. But at the time, … More

After they left, the house went very quiet. No one really knew about the quietness but me. I played a … More

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

Tracks 2 am: moonlight. The train has stopped out in the middle of the plain. Far away, points of … More

We walked into the brunt light, towards the hospital. The air was dry, February-cold. Traffic was going about its business. … More

The way I found out, just as with my diagnosis, was via a segment of a conversation about other things. … More

‘I heard the most amazing thing today. It was a bloke off the radio, don’t remember his name, does that … More

On certain afternoons I am certain it has come back. A twinge in my right side, where the pain … More

We walked into the brunt light, towards the hospital. The air was dry, February-cold. Traffic was going about its business. … More

‘I am so, so sorry.’ ‘You’re going to be fine.’ ‘Fight it, you know you’re a fighter.’ ‘Are we going … More

This is a momentous week. It marks the tenth anniversary of the day I was told I had cancer. To … More

I had bumped into a friend at the cash machine. We greeted each other, as we always do, with a … More

Let’s love today, the what we have now, this day, not today or tomorrow or yesterday, but this passing moment, … More

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

What I want is to – to be present. That’s what I’ve learned. I want to strive for presence, now, … More

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

This is the link to the podcast of the interview I gave yesterday on the Arena programme, RTE, about … More

Tomorrow I will be taking part at the Wenlock Poetry Festival in an event with Roz Goddard. We will be … More