Teaching paying attention

Lately I have been pondering the practice of paying attention, vis-à-vis my habit of keeping a notebook to capture impressions, … More

Paying attention

Readers of this blog will know I have been thinking a lot about stationery recently. (Actually, that is something of … More

The stationery thing again

  My blog post yesterday about the stationery thing provoked more responses than I ever imagined it would. Among the … More

The stationery thing

At the start of each academic year, usually when I have known them for a week or so, I make … More

Lifesaving Poems: Margaret Avison’s ‘Twilight’

Twilight   Three minutes ago it was almost dark. Now all the darkness is in the leaves (there are no … More

Get out of the house while you can

Dear Ant So you’ve had your first chemotherapy treatment. That first night, when you came home and carried the sick … More

The crying boy at the airport

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

You’ve got to eat

The Day After I made a leek and potato soup the day after, prompted by the look of the peeled … More

A day so happy

Gift A day so happy.Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden.Hummingbirds were stopping over the honeysuckle flowers.There was no … More

One poet talking about another poet

  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 not I.                    I am this one walking beside me whom I do not … More

At the reading

I get to the reading on time. I find a place near the front, so I can get to the … More

Heal into time and other people

I have been thinking a lot recently about the gap between what is expected of us and what we think … More

What not to say

Just as I do not go around thinking about my cancer all the time, there are times when I feel … More

Another look at Tranströmer’s ‘Alone’

I have been thinking a lot recently about Tomas Tranströmer’s poem ‘Alone’. When I first read it I was taken … More

New Year Letter

Dear Anthony (I will never get used to calling you Tony) Here are some words of advice from your nearing-fifty-year-old … More

Waiting to be picked

If you’re not enough without the gold medal, you’ll never be enough with it. – John Candy, Cool Runnings I did not … More

Lifesaving Poems: Rose Cook’s ‘A Poem for Someone Who is Juggling Her Life’

A Poem for Someone Who is Juggling Her Life This is a poem for someonewho is juggling her life.Be still … More