Then this

Then this. We are sitting with hospital mugs of tea, in the Quiet Room. We are all leaning forward, listening … More

Sailing through

Dear Anthony Two cycles down, just six more to go. You are not looking bad, considering. The belligerent doctor who … More

The most immediate and forthright analysis of a poem I have seen at any poetry workshop occurred as I passed … More

My memoir of cancer, Love for Now, has been reviewed by cancer patients, and former patients, under the aegis of Macmillan … More

Just as I do not go around thinking about my cancer all the time, there are times when I feel … More

A year ago I went to hear Clare Best read from her extraordinary book Excisions (Waterloo Press, 2011). Clare … More

Emily Riall will be a new name to many readers of this blog. She was a fine young poet … More

Earlier this year I ran a Poetry School course about poetry and health called Written on the Body. It was … More

Let Evening Come Let the light of late afternoon shine through chinks in the barn, moving up the bales as … More

Love for Now did not begin with an idea but an illness. As I have written elsewhere, there wasn’t a plan. I … More

Towards the end of my treatment for cancer in 2006 I had one of the most profound conversations of my … More

A friend of mine drew my attention via Twitter this week to an article detailing Robert Peston’s thoughts on his … More

Nine days after I was told that my chemotherapy treatment was not working in April 2006 the doctors discovered the … More

Seven years ago this is what happened halfway through my treatment for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I went for a midway scan … More

As I say in my full length review of Jo Shapcott’s Of Mutability, really good books about cancer are rare. Really … More

Seven years ago today, the date in the photograph above was the day I knew had cancer. By this … More

When I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma nearly seven years ago the aspect of telling people I dreaded most was … More

The chances are, more of us are mortal than have multiple orgasms -Violet Weingarten, Intimations of Mortality When I was diagnosed … More