New Year letter

Dear Ant Looking forward to 2015 it’s tempting to think it will never reach the heights of 2014. Big mistake. Huge. … More

The most read Lifesaving Poems of 2014

Here are the most read Lifesaving Poems of 2014. For the first time I have been able to compare last … More

I am sad because the great American poet Mark Strand has died. Among the tributes to him in the last … More

By the time you read this I will be far away from here. It has not happened yet, but I … More

Ellen Doré Watson was a new name to me until recently. ‘Be Here First ‘ is a good example of … More

Reading Thomas Lux’s magnificent new Selected Poems reminded me recently that I first heard his poems before I read them. One of … More

Well, it’s happening. Happened, I mean. Stuff I thought would last forever -film titles, the actors in them, scenes of … More

I first heard Thomas Lux’s poems before I read them. In the autumn of 2000 I was sent a tape … More

She started as a name. There I was, following my nose, minding my own business, trying to ignore all instincts … More

Photograph © Bloodaxe Books Ltd I am delighted to announce that my Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts has now become … More

My friend and colleague Anna Craft has died. She was famous -if that is the right word- as a researcher … More

One of the poets I am most looking forward to listening to at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in November is … More

Groundsmen The pile of cuttings puts on dreadful weight, swelters in the season, and leaks treacle. Beside it, the … More

Sugar in Banana Sandwiches ‘Still something of the child in you’ she says. I find that hard to swallow … More

Middle Ages (Translated by Paul Vincent) Folk from the past jostled for a place in the wall with distant … More

Or this one. You arrive at the venue early but there is no one there to greet you. You pace … More

Locus Scolus: The New York School of Poets is a thing of wonder and beauty. Named after a 1914 French novel by Raymond … More

The Sofas, Fogs and Cinemas I have lived it, and lived it, My nervous, luxury civilisation, My sugar-loving nerves … More