Lifesaving Poems: Jackie Kay’s ‘Dusting the Phone’

One of the things I love about my job is that I get to co-construct projects with other people. One of … More

Lifesaving Poems: John Logan’s ‘The Picnic’

The Picnic It is the picnic with Ruth in the spring. Ruth was third on my list of seven girls … More

Ann Gray and I were chatting the other day. We were trying to decide how long we had known each … More

Photo: Derek Adams Some writers influence you through the pull of their imagination on your work, opening up new worlds … More

Ted Hughes died on 28 October, 1998, aged 68. He had been suffering with colon cancer. Just about everyone I … More

photo: Gwenllian Riall Last week I posted a blog about entering remission after treatment for cancer. For me this moment … More

This has already been a memorable year, for I have seen my old friend Cliff Yates twice, both at poetry-related … More

I was very sad to read yesterday that the American poet Robert Rehder died in 2009. I had no idea. He … More

What the Living Do Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some utensil probably fell down there. And … More

James Schuyler is back from the dead with the lovely “Other Flowers” a posthumous book of his unpublished, uncollected poems. … More

I will forever be grateful to Emma Metcalfe from the Bath Festivals’ Write Team for recommending to me Mandy Coe’s … More

I first read Moniza Alvi’s wonderful ‘I Would Like to be a Dot in a Painting by Miro’ in … More

A very special thing happened this week: a large delivery of poetry pamphlets fromHappenstance Press arrived. It included the wonderful No … More

In my last blog post I wrote about the importance of following one’s nose in terms of developing a taste … More

In my last blog post I wrote about the influence of social contexts upon one’s reading, specifically that of … More

The most recent addition to my list of Lifesaving Poems is ‘Prayer’ by Marie Howe. I read it for the first time … More

Alone I One evening in February I came near to dying here. The car skidded sideways on the ice, out … More

The Divine ImageTo Mercy, Pity, Peace, and LoveAll pray in their distress;And to these virtues of delightReturn their thankfulness.For Mercy, … More