Song of ReasonsBecause of the change of key midway in “Come Back to Sorrento”The little tune comes back higher, and … More
Tag: Poets
Lifesaving Poems: Jean Sprackland’s ‘The Birkdale Nightingale’
The Birkdale Nightingale(Bufo calamito – the Natterjack toad)On Spring nights you can hear themtwo miles away, calling their matesto the … More
Lifesaving Poems: Stephen Berg’s ‘Eating Outside’
Eating OutsideFat pine boughsdroop over the vegetable garden’ssticks and leaves,the moon’s hazy face comes and goesin the heat.Beautiful women,your skin … More
Lifesaving Poems: Ian Duhig’s ‘From the Irish’ and Maura Dooley’s ‘Mansize’
Last night saw the launch of Magma 53 at the Troubadour Coffee House in London with guest readers and Lifesaving … More
Lifesaving Poems is one year old
A year ago I began the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts. I got the idea for it after reading … More
Lifesaving Poems: George Messo’s ‘The Beautiful Apartments’
As I wrote in my recent post, I chose to call this series Lifesaving Poems because I actually believe … More
Lifesaving Poems: Brendan Kennelly’s ‘May the Silence Break’
May the Silence Break Because you do not speakI know the shockof water encountering a rock. Supremacy of silence is … More
Lifesaving Poems: Yves Bonnefoy’s ‘Let a Place be Made’
Let a Place be Made Let a place be made for the one who draws near,the one who is deprived … More
Lifesaving Poems: Chris Southgate’s ‘High Fidelity’
High FidelityThe man sits above the tracksat Bristol Parkway. He drinks tea,studies the distance.He notes the numbers of trains.With the … More
Lifesaving Poems: Elizabeth Jennings’s ‘A Letter to Peter Levi’
A Letter to Peter LeviReading your poems I am awareof translucencies, of birds hoveringover estuaries, of glass being spun for … More
Lifesaving Poems: Patrick Kavanagh’s ‘Wet Evening in April’
Wet Evening in AprilThe birds sang in the wet treesAnd as I listened to them it was a hundred years … More
Lifesaving Poems: Andy Brown’s ‘Prayer/Why I am Happy to be in the City this Spring’
Prayer/Why I am Happy to be in the City this Springfor creepers etched across a wall like the marble veins … More
Lifesaving Poems: On Hugo Williams and Douglas Dunn
I can remember exactly where I was when I first read these poems. It was on the balcony of the … More
Kenneth Koch’s Melancholy
To My Heart at the Close of DayAt dusk light you come to batAs George Trakl might put it. How … More
Lifesaving Poems: Sharon Olds’s ‘Looking at Them Asleep’
Looking at Them Asleep When I come home late at night and go in to kiss the children,I see my … More
Lifesaving Poems: Julia Darling’s ‘Chemotherapy’ vs ‘Psalm 102’
I was astonished to find in an old diary today that by 8 March 2006, less than one month after … More
Miracle Fair -by Wislawa Szymborska
This week saw the death of poet and Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szmborska. She was 88. Her compatriot Czeslaw Milosz described … More
Lifesaving Poems: Marin Sorescu’s ‘With Only One Life’
With Only One LifeHold with both handsThe tray of every dayAnd pass in turnAlong this counter.There is enough sunFor everybody.There … More
Lifesaving Poems 