Advent Poems 3: In a Time of Peace, by Ilya Kaminsky

In a Time of Peace Inhabitant of earth for fortysomething years I once found myself in a peaceful country. … More

Advent poems 2: Old Folks Laugh, by Maya Angelou

Old Folks Laugh They have spent their content of simpering, holding their lips this and that way, winding … More

Thank you to the heroic bloggers and poets Josephine Corcoran and Robin Houghton for their recentish posts about their desks. … More

Shute Festival, 13 September, St Michael’s Church The audience in pews. September sunlight and warmth still in the air, light … More

I am delighted to announce that my new book of essays Deck Shoes is now on sale. You can buy it direct … More

Settee in Autumn The leaves change colour and fallon the russet settee. Sticky buds are stuckdown the back of the … More

Paul Brookes at Wombwell Rainbow has posted an interview with me about my reading and writing life, my influences … More

Bike You, who have borne three sons of mine, still bear my weight routinely, transporting me. An odd … More

At a guess I’ve been wearing them somewhere around the last ten years. Not having inherited my father’s genius … More

In 2014 I was invited by the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival to be their guest blogger. I have added the blog … More

One of the privileges of writing this blog is inviting others to write guest blog posts. I have collected these … More

As the holiday season continues I repost this list of various found poems that I have made over the … More

As the summer holidays take over I am re-posting the odd blog post from my archive. To celebrate the start … More

Dear Ted Hughes You probably won’t remember me. I wrote to you before, in the summer of 1998. I did … More

after Mark Halliday Because of the writing days. And because The discovery will not happen on its own, unprompted, … More

A line that has really been haunting me recently is ‘Horses turned out into a cold field have it’ from … More

Waiting for the Barbarians What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are due here today. … More

Going There is an evening coming in Across the fields, one never seen before, That lights no lamps. Silken … More