The Top 20 Lifesaving Poems

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts in May 2010. The idea was to celebrate the poems that I … More

Lifesaving Poems: Theodore Roethke’s ‘Elegy for Jane’

Elegy for Jane(My student, thrown by a horse)I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;And her quick look, a … More

EraThe twenty-second day of March two thousand and threeI left home shortly after eight thirtyon foot towards the City. I … More

Sunday LunchtimeThe whirlpools of the launderettedo not recognise the Sabbath,so the air in Worple Streetsmells of soapsuds and roast beef.The … More

Seven years ago today, the date in the photograph above was the day I knew had cancer. By this … More

Saint Francis and the SowThe budstands for all things,even for those things that don’t flower,for everything flowers, from within, of … More

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts in May 2010. The idea was to celebrate the poems … More

The Next Big Thing I have been been tagged by poet and blogger Abegail Morley to answer set questions relating to my memoir … More

Down by the Station Early in the Morning It all wears out. I keep telling myself this, butI can never … More

I have just been asked by Abegail Morley to send her a list of my poetry books of 2012 for … More

A MorningI have carried it with me each day: that morning I tookmy uncle’s boat from the brown water coveand … More

Kin“You make me sick!” this, with rancor, vehemence, disgust—again, “You hear me? Sick!”with rancor, vehemence, disgust again, with rage and … More

Yesterday was a good day and a sad say. A good day because Smiths Knoll, the poetry magazine edited by … More

Photograph in a Stockholm Newspaper For March 13, 1910Here is a family so little famoustheir names were not recorded. They … More

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems posts in June 2011, back when I was using Posterous for this blog. … More

Everything is Going to be All Right How should I not be glad to contemplatethe clouds clearing beyond the dormer … More

Some of the UsualStanding in the kitchen before breakfast, not including some of the usual —what to buy in Budgens … More

Nightwatchmanan elegyMouth set. So far, noughtnot out, having dabbed atthe spinner who’d been giving itsome air. Hands soft – taking … More