Any Common Desolation

Any Common Desolation can be enough to make you look up at the yellowed leaves of the apple tree, the … More

In service of silence

Shute Festival, 13 September, St Michael’s Church The audience in pews. September sunlight and warmth still in the air, light … More

I nearly went back on Twitter the other day. Not once, but several times. One of my very lovely relatives … More

Phil has been round. I know this because we came home the other night to find a pack of Toffee … More

Though I know him, his name escapes me. He is really a friend of a friend of a friend, … More

I hear him before I see him. Sometimes not even that. The proverbial person you could set your clock by. … More

I love this time of year. The city still seems to belong to itself. Mornings are still mornings, not a … More

I love this time of year. There is a wonderful Anne Lamott line somewhere about the welcome of the cooler … More

And what will I miss? Her cruelty, her unfaithfulness Her fun, her love, her kiss, part company The Go-Betweens, Part … More

‘What are you doing?’ says the book. ‘Nothing.’ ‘Doesn’t look like it.’ ‘Listening to the cricket,’ if you must know. … More

What I love about James Schuyler is coming across poems I have not found before and finding in them the … More

My James Schuyler obsession continues. (So is my adoration of blogs about pencils, but that is another story.) Below are … More

and (Dear James) it occurs to me now, just thinking out loud, that in a way Kenneth and Frank … 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 think I will write you a letter, June day. Dear June Fifth, you’re all green, so many kinds and … More

This is the time of year when I traditionally think of Nick. Nick lived with us in our house in … More

Dear Mark I am sorry it has taken so long to getting round to writing to you, not least because … More

As we get to the business end of Lent, in the week the church still names Holy, I have been … More

I’ll admit it straight away: I didn’t last the whole week. Sometime on Friday evening I switched the radio … More

This is a Saturday in Lent, so I am reposting a favourite older post from my archives. See you on … More

‘I’m trying again. A man has to begin over and over – to try to think and feel only in … More