A new guest blog posts page

One of the privileges of writing this blog is inviting others to write guest blog posts. I have collected these … More

Tom Raworth’s ‘8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970’ (LentBlog4)

Each Saturday of this LentBlog series I am going to post an old post from my archives. Here is one … More

Waiting for the Barbarians What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are due here today. … More

As I was saying the book that I bought and then did not read and which caught my eye recently is Now … More

Poem Without Sleep All the things that could happen to the baby came to me last night as I … More

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

Smith Objectionable, mercurial, fierce, wise, bandaged, solitary and irresistible, Phil Smith and I were not close. Only in our … More

She started as a name. There I was, following my nose, minding my own business, trying to ignore all instincts … 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

The Art of Disappearing When they say Don’t I know you? say no. When they invite you to the party … More

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

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

The Birkdale Nightingale (Bufo calamito – the Natterjack toad) On Spring nights you can hear them two miles away, calling … More

Dusting the Phone I am spending my time imagining the worst that could happen. I know this is not a … More

Kin “You make me sick!” this, with rancor, vehemence, disgust—again, “You hear me? Sick!” with rancor, vehemence, disgust again, with … More

Rondeau Redouble There is so little left. The room is bare. She’ll strip his sheets and blankets by and … More

Some of the Usual Standing in the kitchen before breakfast, not including some of the usual — what to buy in … More

And though I only met you once, your influence on me is massive, or should that be was I don’t … More

I first encountered Siân Hughes‘s poems sitting around a table with some talented teenage poets at the Arvon Foundation‘s writing … More

Alone I One evening in February I came near to dying here. The car skidded sideways on the ice, out … More