Nothing doing

Sporting occasions are bad. Or the Corbyn result, that was hard. I seem to remember (no one else does) a … More

Guest blog post: Whose life is it anyway? by John Foggin

  A few weeks ago I was writing in my own blog, the great fogginzo’s cobweb, about the way I … More

This may not work

Since I decided to leave Twitter and abscond from Facebook I have been reminded of some of the guiding principles … More

Noticing again

Day four of the Twitter-fast. By the time you read this, day seven. The first thing I notice is the … More

Climbing up the walls

Or perhaps you’re waiting at the bus stop. You could text someone. But if you said ‘no’ to the text, … More

It’s not about you, it’s me: on saying goodbye to Twitter

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

Influences: Alan Booth

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

Guest posts and summer reading

As I did last year, I will be taking a break from uploading new posts to this blog over August. … More

Except the Americans

As I said recently, I have been moving. Not away, not abroad. But here, within the space that already exists, … More

Guest Blog Post: On Literary Envy, by Robin Houghton

On Literary Envy   “Comparison is the thief of joy” –Teddy Roosevelt You wake up one morning. You check in … More

Guest Blog Post: Dear Diary, by Josephine Corcoran

  This is the second in a series of Guest Blog Posts that I am hosting this year. More are … More

The missing blog post

after and with apologies to Mark Halliday The missing blog post has gone AWOL. Never sure of its place in … More

Homesick

“A poem begins with a lump in the throat; a homesickness or a love sickness. It is a reaching-out toward … More

Inside Lifesaving Poems 4

I have been moving. Not moving house, moving within it. Stuff has come with me, some of it has vanished … More

Open letter to Peter Sansom on reading Careful What You Wish For

Dear Peter Cover-to-cover and back-to-back twice, as I do, once before sleeping, then between zeds on a train woken to Tickets, … More

Inside Lifesaving Poems 3

As I have said before, there wasn’t a plan. Which does not mean I don’t feel the luckiest man alive … 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