Why poetry matters

The value of poetry is that it should matter … first to the writer and then to the reader. Michael … More

About Maurice

I first met Maurice in the sitting room of a mutual friend, a lifelong Labour supporter, the night after the … More

‘80% of success is showing up.’ -Woody Allen I was chatting with a student the other day when I said … More

That CK Williams has died. More than two weeks ago! One of my heroes. This is the first thing I … More

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

Travelling without a visa It seems to me that all writing comes from a place of resistance inside – … More

A friend recently asked me if I was writing. I replied, as I always do, saying that it was going … More

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

In the rift between what is going to happen and whatever we would wish to happen, poetry holds attention for … More

During the mad phase, when everything was a tweet or a share or a retweet, one of my favourite discoveries … More

A few weeks ago I was writing in my own blog, the great fogginzo’s cobweb, about the way I … 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

After Reading Tu Fu, I Go Outside to the Dwarf Orchard East of me, west of me, full summer. … More

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

How I put The Art of Falling together In May 2012 my first pamphlet If We Could Speak Like Wolves … More

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