Thingless

I am not at a thing. The things have dried up (or I have stopped going). I am thingless. I … More

How to be a writing tutor

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

Sometime in the early Nineties I did a very brave thing. I took myself to a poetry reading. I went … More

The review isn’t exactly vicious as such, merely purely personal and savage. It stops short of questioning your parentage, but … More

The Class to the Class of 2014 after Raymond Carver The class with beautiful scarves The class who learned … More

You think it will be about your childhood. It turns out to be about an onion. Or a night in … More

For now, at least, it has gone. The notebooks with promising phrases, the backs of envelopes with doodles: they are … More

I have finished the thing. People come up to me to say things. It seems to have gone well. While … More

Seven years ago I published The Year of Drinking Water, a pamphlet of poems, about my experience of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (Exeter … More

Here are the text and ppt presentations of my NATE Conference 2014 keynote speech on The Power of Poetry. PDF … More

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

Groundsmen The pile of cuttings puts on dreadful weight, swelters in the season, and leaks treacle. Beside it, the … More

Father’s Day 1970 This is the day my father lets us sleep, then brings us tea in bed. The sun … More

I am in the pub with Rupert. We are talking about planning a thing. It’s definitely going to happen. A … More

Ink Sweat & Tears have published a new poem, ‘Hymn of Rain’. Here’s to another barbecue summer!

The book is not in love with me. I shower it with love and promises of more stationery, but all … More

When the Holy Spirit Danced With Me in My Kitchen the first thing I noticed was his arms, … More

I’m talking about real influence now –Raymond Carver This is the first in a new series of blog posts about people … More