Lifesaving Poems: Langston Hughes’s ‘The Negro Speaks of Rivers’

The Negro Speaks of Rivers I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the … More

Lifesaving Poems: Pablo Neruda’s ‘The Dead Woman’ (La Muerta)

The Dead Woman If suddenly you do not exist,if suddenly you no longer live,I shall live on. I do not … More

The Advantages of Learning I am a man with no ambitions And few friends, wholly incapable Of making a … More

Recently, I took our 11-year old boy to see the Turners in the National Gallery of Ireland. These 31 watercolours … More

The Fear of Poetry In this moment when we face horizons and conflicts wider than ever before, we want our … More

Today marks the start of a new series of guest blog posts on overlooked poets. With thanks to Mike Ferguson … More

It’s complicated. There I am in the bookshop, the one we all love, looking for a book. No one is … More

Poetry and Work I recently took out a book via Interlibrary loan called, The Mind at Work: Valuing the … More

The Soho Hospital for Woman (IV) I am out in the supermarket choosing – this very afternoon, this day … More

Goulash A crucial ingredient is the right frame of mind so abandon all ideas of getting on. Stop pedalling, dismount, … More

The afternoon was drawing to a close when I knew I had hit the wall. On its own terms there … More

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

Don’t Think About A White Horse Coming closer, he turns out to be you – or nearly. Once you … 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

As I said recently, I have been moving. Not away, not abroad. But here, within the space that already exists, … More

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

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