‘What will you miss most?’ the book says. ‘About what?’ I say. ‘Me,’ says the book. ‘I didn’t know you … More
Tag: Poetry
Some found poems
Recently I have featured prose writing by various writers, reshaping them in the form of found poems. Annie Dillard on … More
What it’s like to be human, by Mark Strand
If every head of state and every government official spent an hour a day reading poetry we’d live in … More
Mark Strand on reading poetry -a found poem
Sometimes poems aren’t literal representations of anything. Sometimes a poem just exists as something else in the universe that you … More
What drives you?
‘What drives you?’ ‘I’ve only just woken up!’ I say to the book. ‘Don’t care. It’s morning. Work to be … More
Interview with the book
‘Aren’t you going get the phone?’ I say. ‘It won’t be for me.’ With a little groan the book … More
The book is fifty blog posts old
The adventures of the book have now clocked up fifty blog posts. Here is a list of all of them, … More
Addicted to the news
‘Listening to the cricket again?’ says the book. ‘I think I’ll join you.’ ‘What do you mean, ‘again’?’ I say. … More
Hugo Williams
In the summer of 1986, when he was poetry editor of New Statesman and not long after Writing Home had … More
The next book
‘That thing you mentioned the other day,’ the book says. ‘Is it true?’ ‘What thing?’ I say. ‘About there being … More
Lifesaving Poems: Ted Kooser’s ‘A Rainy Morning’
A Rainy Morning A young woman in a wheelchair, wearing a black nylon poncho spattered with rain, is pushing … More
Lifesaving Poems: Isaac Rosenberg’s ‘August 1914’
August 1914 What in our lives is burnt In the fire of this? The heart’s dear granary? The much we … More
Separate people?
Jack Palance: Do you know what the secret of life is? Billy Crystal: No, what? Jack Palance: This [he … More
Lifesaving Poems: Tania Hershman’s ‘By Any Other Name’
By Any Other Name First, he called her My Little Aubergine as if she was … More
Lifesaving Poems: Josephine Corcoran’s You say “drone”
You say “drone” and I think of bagpipes refrigerators aeroplanes I think of bees a male bee in a colony … More
Advertisement
Advertisement (after Tim Dooley) State-approved cookery books in every emporium of food. Information concerning lipids in dayglow font between … More
The power of poetry
A speech given at the NATE annual conference, June 2014 My early poetic experiences were not ‘poetic’ at … More
On silence, by Jorie Graham
I think I am probably in love with silence, that other world. And that I write, in some way, to … More