No rights in this matter

I have been thinking a lot recently about final lines of poems. I’ve always been fond of Seamus Heaney’s comment about … More

You’ve got to eat

The Day After I made a leek and potato soup the day after, prompted by the look of the peeled … More

Gift A day so happy.Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden.Hummingbirds were stopping over the honeysuckle flowers.There was no … More

Once upon a time I broke the rules and spoke with another poet (it doesn’t matter who) about a … More

I Am Not I I am not I. I am this one walking beside me whom I do not … More

I get to the reading on time. I find a place near the front, so I can get to the … More

I have been thinking a lot recently about the gap between what is expected of us and what we think … More

I have been thinking a lot recently about Tomas Tranströmer’s poem ‘Alone’. When I first read it I was taken … More

When I visit schools to read and talk about poetry there is often some sort of Q and A following … More

Dear Anthony (I will never get used to calling you Tony) Here are some words of advice from your nearing-fifty-year-old … More

I began the year with two books which helped me slow down and breathe: Christian McEwen’s World Enough and Time and … More

These are the most read Lifesaving Poems posts of 2013. Mary Oliver, ‘The Journey’ I first read this on … More

Joseph They say there are signs. Not with her. I’m no professor but neither am I stupid. … More

This is the recording of my reading ‘Life Begins With Cancer’, recorded at the Greenbelt Festival on Sunday 25th August, … More

If you’re not enough without the gold medal, you’ll never be enough with it. – John Candy, Cool Runnings I did not … More

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

Morning on Earth Morning on earth, light snow, and just whenit was so warm, practically spring.But the thermometer in the … More

Things I Learned at University How to bike on cobblestones and where to signal right.How to walk through doors held … More