Don’t clap

I once heard Andrew Motion give a poetry reading at a day-conference for teachers, writers and writers in education. There … More

Don Paterson’s ‘Oh God’ moment

The most immediate and forthright analysis of a poem I have seen at any poetry workshop occurred as I passed … More

One of the most powerful performances on my old Faber cassette tape of Ted Hughes reading his poems is ‘Bride … More

Damp white imprints dog the feet; snowbound trolley, snowbound street. Her tip of glove to lip and cheek, “Goodbye.” Go. … More

My wife and I are at the airport of a European capital city. It’s late on a Friday evening, the … More

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

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