Lifesaving Poems: Tom Andrews’s ‘Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital’

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

Lifesaving Poems: Kathryn Simmonds’s ‘In a Church’

In a Church No, no time for this the outside clamours to be heard, the books, you see, … More

Here is a story about a recent failure of mine. It all started with an idea, which I knew, just … More

Dear Friends Here are the blog posts which you read most often in 2017, according to my WordPress stats: … More

In support of crowdfunding our new anthology of poems, No One You Know, with Unbound, Sue Dymoke and I are … More

Dear God Do you think you could fix it so that I might have some of Martin’s playfulness, his … More

Try to Praise the Mutilated World Try to praise the mutilated world. Remember June’s long days, and wild strawberries, … More

I have to be honest and say that, in the light of yesterday’s US Election result, I am tempted to … More

I feel a great sense of weariness as I look at the current political scene. Domestically, in the UK, we … More

I have begun to acclimatise myself to the fact that the Book is not coming back. To lure it back … More

I turn the radio on and switch it off again, unable to settle to anything. There is still no sign … More

The Half-Finished Heaven Despondency breaks off its course.Anguish breaks off its course.The vulture breaks off its flight. The eager light … More

Tracks 2 am: moonlight. The train has stopped out in the middle of the plain. Far away, points of … More

Last Sunday I attended the last ever group meeting and reading of the Mincing Poets, in Exeter. A classic … More

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

Dear James (may I call you James?) Though it’s been a while (at least ten years, maybe more) it feels as … More

I have started the poem but the poem does not know it yet. I am more than flirting with it, … More

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the ‘poets I go back to’ idea, that I first came across in … More