Everyone who matters

‘What do you want?’ says the book. ‘Who’s asking?’ I say. ‘Me,’ says the book. ‘I am asking.’ ‘What do … More

Truly, Madly, Deeply

I am lying on the bed staring at the ceiling, detoxing from the day, as I do. ‘You all right?’ … More

Tenderness

The book is looking at me from across the room. It is dressed smartly, but not to impress. It looks … More

The Year of Living Deeply 23: Children on the Hill by Harold Budd

In The Year of Living Deeply I am trying to attend to the things which feed me very much (family; … More

Towards a model of poetry writing development

As promised last week, here is my presentation of the paper I co-wrote with Sue Dymoke in which we argue on … More

Letter to a younger poet

Listening to the wonderful array of speakers at the Foyle Young Poets symposium on Monday, I tried to think back … More

Poetry writing as a socially mediated process

‘Even the poetic world is social’ (Bakhtin, 1981, 300). This time next week, Saturday 23 June, I will be presenting … More

On a failure

Here is a story about a recent failure of mine. It all started with an idea, which I knew, just … More

Sleep, mostly

‘What else are you guilty about?’ ‘Most things,’ I say. ‘It doesn’t stop with poetry, you know. Or those unread … More

Escape to the Chateau

’Anything else?’ the book says. ’What do you mean?’ ’That you want to tell me?’ There is a long silence, … More

The world expert on John Ashbery

‘What else are you not telling me?’ says the book. ‘Nothing,’ I say. The book rolls its eyes, gives a … More

Kind of ashamed

‘What you reading?’ says the book. ‘Nothing.’ ‘No need to be shy,’ says the book. ‘Go on, what is it?’ … More

The New York Times bestseller list

‘What’s wrong?’ says the book. ‘Nothing,’ I say. ‘Liar.’ ‘Am not.’ ‘Are.’ ‘Aren’t.’ ‘Pants on fire. You’re hopeless. You should … More

Brother, genius

  One of the central influences on my life is not a poet in the usual sense of the word, … More

UCU Strike Poems 11 -An Horatian Notion, by Thomas Lux

An Horatian Notion The thing gets made, gets built, and you’re the slave who rolls the log beneath the block, … More

UCU Strike Poems 10 – from A New Guide, by Kenneth Koch

from A New Guide 7 Look at this arch. It is part of a building more than seven hundred years old. … More

The how of it

  I was having a coffee with a new writer friend the other day. Not having known each other for … More

The year of not blogging

There’s a problem with that title, isn’t there? While I have not been completely silent (fifteen blog posts at most? … More