Lifesaving Poems: Christopher North’s ‘The Dog’

Occasionally the entrance of a poem into your life is a combination of a series of tiny events, each of … More

Lifesaving Poems: Adrian Mitchell’s ‘Goodbye’

As I said the other day, Geoffrey Summerfield’s Worlds is one of the most important books in my life. As I … More

Sometime in 1997 I went to hear Kevin Crossley-Holland give a reading at Exeter Central Library. I’d heard he was … More

I once heard Stephen Knight say ‘If I am reading well then I am writing well.’ It was a Q … More

One CigaretteNo smoke without you, my fire.After you left,your cigarette glowed on in my ashtrayand sent up a long thread … More

I became interested in Robert Lowell’s poetry because of the criticism of Seamus Heaney. I had tried reading him before, … More

Wind This house has been far out at sea all night,The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills,Winds stampeding the … More

‘A Lyric Afterwards’ was the poem in which I finally got Tom Paulin. I had been given a tape of him … More

I love watching poets having fun. Think of Don Paterson shooting the breeze with Bill Herbert in the South Bank … More

Ann Sansom is one of my all-time favourite people, poets or normal, ever. I count myself fortunate to have worked … More

This is What I Wanted to Sign Off With You know what I’m like when I`m sick: I’d sooner curse … More

W.H. Auden once said that writers should always be honest, even about their prejudices. So here is my confession: when … More

When I speak to trainee primary school teachers about their views of poetry I am often struck by their divergent … More

I can remember exactly where I was when I first read ‘Early Summer’. It was on the balcony of … More

I wrote yesterday about pitching poems in the classroom which are aimed not at the crowd but perhaps one … More

Who? Who is that child I see wandering, wandering down by the side of the quivering stream? Why does … More

I count myself lucky to have been taught by a team of English teachers who I have no doubt … More

The most fun I have ever seen a poet have at their own reading (with the possible exception of Jackie … More