The man kept piling things on

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

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

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

I have been at a thing. Poets I love and trust were there. We laughed. We invented scurrilous Twitter-profiles. It … More

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

My deep thanks to Maria Taylor, who has written the most lovely appreciation of Lifesaving Poems. Thank you Maria for capturing its … More

An artist needs not so much an audience, as to feel a need to answer, a promise to respond. Robert … More

I have been moving. Not moving house, moving within it. Stuff has come with me, some of it has vanished … More

Dear Peter Cover-to-cover and back-to-back twice, as I do, once before sleeping, then between zeds on a train woken to Tickets, … More

As I have said before, there wasn’t a plan. Which does not mean I don’t feel the luckiest man alive … More

This is the link to the podcast of the interview I gave yesterday on the Arena programme, RTE, about … More

The Sofas, Fogs, and Cinemas I have lived it, and lived it, My nervous, luxury civilisation, My sugar-loving nerves have … More

A Misremembered Lyric, by Denise Riley I heard this poem for the first time a week ago, at the Bodmin … More

Damp white imprints dog the feet; snowbound trolley, snowbound street. Her tip of glove to lip and cheek, “Goodbye.” Go. … More

Artwork by Angus Joseph Alongside each poem in Lifesaving Poems is a short commentary about how I came across … More

Now that we might finally be getting one, I found myself wondering recently how many of my Lifesaving Poems choices were about … More

The central organising principle of Lifesaving Poems is that each poet is represented by a single poem. There are poets you … More