As Planned

As Planned After the first glass of vodka you can accept just about anything of life even your own mysteriousness … More

and (Dear James)

and (Dear James) it occurs to me now, just thinking out loud, that in a way Kenneth and Frank … More

‘So I was thinking,’ the book says. ‘Going anywhere nice for Christmas?’ ’Do you want a lift somewhere?’ I say. … More

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

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

[…] you write because you know them not because you understand them because you don’t you are … More

and (Dear James) it occurs to me now, just thinking out loud, that in a way Kenneth and Frank actually were … More

Being together so much and talking so much and writing poems and showing them to each other so much … More

Joan Mitchell looks to be the only artist of her generation, man or woman, who produced a big, abstract, painterly … More

The Sofas, Fogs, and Cinemas I have lived it, and lived it, My nervous, luxury civilisation, My sugar-loving nerves have … More

Artwork by Angus Joseph Alongside each poem in Lifesaving Poems is a short commentary about how I came across … More

The Sofas, Fogs and Cinemas I have lived it, and lived it, My nervous, luxury civilisation, My sugar-loving nerves … More

I heard Michael Symmons Roberts give a magisterial reading from his book Drysalter recently. It was exemplary on so many levels, not … More

The funniest thing you will ever read about Elizabeth Bishop (or teaching, or anything else) is Mark Halliday‘s essay Moose … More

Here is a revelation: I did not always adore the work of Frank O’Hara. I had pause to consider why … More

I was struck by a remark of Seamus Heaney in an interview he gave some years ago now. He was … More

From the Archives of The North… Each month, we fish out a poem, article, review or feature from one of … More