Be kind

Be Kind Not merely because Henry James saidthere were but four rules of life—be kind be kind be kind be … More

You’ve got to write it all down

The unexamined life’s no different from                              … More

The Thing Is

The Thing Is to love life, to love it evenwhen you have no stomach for itand everything you’ve held dearcrumbles … More

When I am Asked

When I am Asked When I am asked    how I began writing poems,    I talk about the indifference of nature.    … More

Autumn

Autumn One night goes on longer than the rest, never so long, whiled away. Then dawn. Goodbye, insects. Hollow casings … More

God’s Grief

God’s Grief Great parentwho must have started outwith such high hopes.What magnitude of suffering,the immensity of guilt,the staggering despair.A mind … More

The most popular lifesaving poems

Earlier this year my Lifesaving Poems blog enjoyed something of a milestone. Not as momentous as Jimmy Anderson taking his … More

Lifesaving Poems: Margaret Avison’s ‘Twilight’

Twilight Three minutes ago it was almost dark.Now all the darkness is in theleaves (there are no morelow garage roofs, … More

Lifesaving Poems: Mandy Sutter’s ‘Caring for the Environment’

In 1991 I made the decision to spend more of my time concentrating on the thing that fulfilled me the … More

Lifesaving Poems: Sean O’Brien’s ‘Before’

To safe and almost universal silence I published How Far From Here is Home? (Stride) a few days before Christmas in … More

We never keep to the present

    We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we found … More

Living in the layers

  The Layers I have walked through many lives, some of them my own, and I am not who I … More

On the Edge

  On the Edge After your mother dies, you will learn to live on the edge of life, to brace … More

Struggling

Struggling I haven’t had time to stand and fart recently, and you’re wanting me to work on a relationship? That … More

Schoolchildren

The Schoolchildren Like leaves startled by a gust of wind they peel away from the tight-knit group, one child, two, … More

We have to have great meals

  Simply Lit Often toward evening, after another day, after another year of days, in the half dark on the … More

Practice

Practice To weep unbidden, to wake at night in order to weep, to wait for the whisker on the face … More

Any Common Desolation

Any Common Desolation can be enough to make you look upat the yellowed leaves of the apple tree, the fewthat … More