Lifesaving Poems: Charles Wright’s ‘After Reading Tu Fu, I Go Outside to the Dwarf Orchard’

After Reading Tu Fu, I Go Outside to the Dwarf Orchard   East of me, west of me, full summer. … More

Let’s love today

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

Mostly when I’m tired

This is my hard time -Theodore Roethke   The mornings I can cope with. Just. Not grabbing my phone before … More

Still in recovery

I knew I was in trouble sometime in July. I just didn’t admit it. I was with friends, one of … 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

What I have learned about remission

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

Guest blog post: Writing my way through bereavement, by Sue Hepworth

Writing my way through bereavement   I don’t approve of death. I’m with Edna St Vincent Millay: I am not … 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

A review of Lifesaving Poems

I am deeply grateful to Dave Russell of Survivors’ Poetry for his review of Lifesaving Poems in the current edition of Poetry … More

Guest Post: How I put The Art of Falling together, by Kim Moore

How I put The Art of Falling together In May 2012 my first pamphlet If We Could Speak Like Wolves … More

Lifesaving Poems: Michel Quoist’s ‘Thank you Lord, thank you’

Thank you Lord, thank you. Thank you for all the gifts that you have given me today, Thank you for … More

Guest Blog Post: Don’t Think About A White Horse, by Kate Bowles

Don’t Think About A White Horse   Coming closer, he turns out to be you – or nearly. Once you … More

Poetry society

I am minding my own business, putting out some rubbish, when it happens. An elderly man I know, a neighbour, … 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