Lifesaving Poems: Ann Gray’s ‘mercifully ordain that we may become aged together’

It was such a privilege to read from the cornucopia of talent assembled in Lifesaving Poems at the Greenbelt Festival over … More

Lifesaving Poems: Christopher Southgate’s ‘High Fidelity’

To celebrate the appearance of my dear friend Christopher Southgate at this year’s Greenbelt Festival, I am republishing my Lifesaving … More

Thank you to all my readers who have been asking to see a page with all of The Book blog … More

Here is a list of the found poems I have been posting over the summer, including older posts from last … More

A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world. That means trying to understand, take in, connect … More

When poets discover that their words refer only to other words and not to reality which must be described as … More

‘An amazing stillness this morning. A sense of impending exhaustion in the air. There was one robin as I went … More

Young poets Who don’t think of themselves As apprentices Are notorious For resisting influences. They’ve experienced The first stages Of … More

Consider what value, What meaning Is enclosed even In the smallest Of our daily habits, In the hundred possessions Which … More

An artist needs not so much an audience as to feel a need to answer, a promise to respond. … More

‘Did you hear?’ says the book. ‘Ted Hughes’s brother has died.’ ‘I did see that, yes,’ I say. ’95, though. … More

Every year, the bright Scandinavian summer nights fade away without anyone noticing. One evening in August you have an errand … More

In the last year, another government initiative has created a compulsory part of the curriculum: learning poetry by heart … More

Recently I have featured prose writing by various writers, reshaping them in the form of found poems. Annie Dillard on … More

Sometimes poems aren’t literal representations of anything. Sometimes a poem just exists as something else in the universe that you … More

‘What drives you?’ ‘I’ve only just woken up!’ I say to the book. ‘Don’t care. It’s morning. Work to be … More

‘Aren’t you going get the phone?’ I say. ‘It won’t be for me.’ With a little groan the book … More

The adventures of the book have now clocked up fifty blog posts. Here is a list of all of them, … More