and (Dear James) it occurs to me now, just thinking out loud, that in a way Kenneth and Frank actually were … More
Tag: Lifesaving Poetry
Open letter to James Schuyler
Dear James (may I call you James?) Though it’s been a while (at least ten years, maybe more) it feels as … More
The poem as love affair
I have started the poem but the poem does not know it yet. I am more than flirting with it, … More
Go-to poet?
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the ‘poets I go back to’ idea, that I first came across in … More
Open letter: in memory of Janet Fisher
And though I only met you once, your influence on me is massive, or should that be was I don’t … More
Alone, by Tomas Tranströmer
Alone I One evening in February I came near to dying here.The car skidded sideways on the ice, outon the … More
Breathing Space July, by Tomas Tranströmer
Breathing Space July The man who lies on his back under huge trees is also up in them. He … More
Lifesaving Poems: Marie Howe’s ‘Prayer’
Concluding this mini-series of poems I shared in my reading at the Greenbelt festival last weekend, here is Prayer by Marie … More
Lifesaving Poems: WN Herbert’s ‘The Black Wet’
Continuing in this mini-series of poems I shared in my reading at the Greenbelt festival last weekend, here is The … More
Lifesaving Poems: Sharon Olds’s ‘Looking at Them Asleep’
Continuing in this mini-series of poems I shared in my reading at the Greenbelt festival last weekend, here is Looking … More
Lifesaving Poems: Michael Laskey’s ‘Bike’
It was a huge privilege to share poems in workshops I gave at the Greenbelt festival last weekend. Here is … More
Lifesaving Poems: Ann Gray’s ‘mercifully ordain that we may become aged together’
It was such a privilege to read from the cornucopia of talent assembled in Lifesaving Poems at the Greenbelt Festival over … More
Lifesaving Poems: Christopher Southgate’s ‘High Fidelity’
To celebrate the appearance of my dear friend Christopher Southgate at this year’s Greenbelt Festival, I am republishing my Lifesaving … More
A list of found poems
Here is a list of the found poems I have been posting over the summer, including older posts from last … More
The back of an envelope thing
‘An amazing stillness this morning. A sense of impending exhaustion in the air. There was one robin as I went … More
This divine breath, by Johann Herder
A breath of our mouth Becomes the portrait of the world, The type of our thoughts And our feelings … More
Other objects, by Primo Levi
Consider what value, What meaning Is enclosed even In the smallest Of our daily habits, In the hundred possessions Which … More
Influence
‘Did you hear?’ says the book. ‘Ted Hughes’s brother has died.’ ‘I did see that, yes,’ I say. ’95, though. … More