Advent poems 12: Borders, by Peter Carpenter

Borders Ground Floor between Fiction and Poetry. The second time in as many days. It comes at me. … More

Lifesaving poems of summer

As the summer holiday season takes hold, I am posting an old blog post or two from the archive. See … More

After what feels like a very long wait since the publication of Riddance in 2012, I am delighted to be publishing … More

After what feels like a very long wait since the publication of Riddance in 2012, I am delighted to be publishing … More

Towards the end of my treatment for cancer in 2006 I had one of the most profound conversations of … More

‘To tell you the truth, it’s been shattering. But kind of amazing, as well.’ ‘You never said. You never said. … More

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

I am delighted to have a new poem, ‘Sunlight’, for my dear friend Peter Carpenter, published at The Stare’s Nest. … More

My first reader was a man called Fergus. A friend of a flatmate at university, I never got to … More

I have so much to be grateful for in 2014. The year began in one of my temporary fits … More

Thanks to the vision and generosity of Jean Sprackland, between 1999-2001 I had the privilege of working with the great … More

Now that we have finally had one in the UK, I found myself wondering recently how many of my Lifesaving Poems choices … More

I’m grateful to you, you see. I wanted to tell you. –Raymond Carver (‘For Tess’) A kind, wise man once … More

A year ago I published Riddance, a book of poems, with Worple Press. It concerns my diagnosis and experience of cancer … More

Readers who have followed my Lifesaving Poems series will know by now that there isn’t and wasn’t a plan about … More

I wrote here recently about losing my ambition as a writer. In case readers are in any doubt, the stuff … More

As I say in my previous blog post, I owe my knowledge of ‘8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970’ to the … More

I have written before that there are a wide range of reasons for including the poems I have in my … More

I have just been asked by Abegail Morley to send her a list of my poetry books of 2012 for … More

I met Peter Carpenter in the summer of 2001 at the Arvon Foundation’s Totleigh Barton writing centre. I was at … More

Riddance is published today. It is my fourth full-length collection of poems and my third with Worple Press. You can … More