I am lying on the bed staring at the ceiling, detoxing from the day, as I do. ‘You all right?’ … More
Tag: Poets
The Year of Living Deeply 13: Reading the books I already possess
As I was saying the book that I bought and then did not read and which caught my eye recently is Now … More
Tenderness
The book is looking at me from across the room. It is dressed smartly, but not to impress. It looks … More
The Year of Living Deeply 12: Reading the books I already have
So in an effort to live deeply and not widely, amongst other things I have been looking at the shelves … More
The Year of Living Deeply 5: The cool flash of what serious is
Remember when you got the news of the accident- or the illness- in the life of someone more laced into … More
The Year of Living Deepy 2: Re-reading Tomas Tranströmer
Below Zero We are at a party that doesn’t love us. At last the party lets its mask drop and … More
Lifesaving Poems: Stuart Pickford’s ‘The Curtain Falls’
The Curtain Falls Suddenly a life is over – Ends with such serious charades The Dean makes lame quips … More
Towards a model of poetry writing development
As promised last week, here is my presentation of the paper I co-wrote with Sue Dymoke in which we argue on … More
Poetry writing as a socially mediated process
‘Even the poetic world is social’ (Bakhtin, 1981, 300). This time next week, Saturday 23 June, I will be presenting … More
Lifesaving Poems: Carrie Fountain’s ‘Poem Without Sleep’
Poem Without Sleep All the things that could happen to the baby came to me last night as I … More
Nowhere Poet
It is odd to speak of missing someone you never met, but this is how I feel about the American … More
Lifesaving Poems: Tom Andrews’s ‘Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital’
Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital 1 The IV drips its slow news. So long, lean and turbulent morning! … More
Lifesaving Poems: Kathryn Simmonds’s ‘In a Church’
In a Church No, no time for this the outside clamours to be heard, the books, you see, … More
Escape to the Chateau
’Anything else?’ the book says. ’What do you mean?’ ’That you want to tell me?’ There is a long silence, … More
Losing My Ambition
Towards the end of my treatment for cancer in 2006 I had one of the most profound conversations of … More
UCU Strike Poems 12 – Diving into the Wreck, by Adrienne Rich
Diving into the Wreck First having read the book of myths, and loaded the camera, and checked the edge of … More
UCU Strike Poems 11 -An Horatian Notion, by Thomas Lux
An Horatian Notion The thing gets made, gets built, and you’re the slave who rolls the log beneath the block, … More
UCU Strike Poems 9 – from Cats and a Cock, by Muriel Rukeyser
from Cats and a Cock We walk the streets of the dark city, placards at back light in our heads, … More