Ellen Doré Watson’s ‘Be Here First’

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

Dusk

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

Below is a collection of my blog posts for the 2014 Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. I will update it as I … 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

It Is Summer for Months Clothes are skimpy and tans are gotwithout flight bags.We saunter beside a canalwhere horses pull … More

I am driving to a thing. Not a famous thing, an out of the way thing. A classroom, perhaps. … More

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

Father’s Day 1970 This is the day my father lets us sleep, then brings us tea in bed. The sun … More

I am at a thing. It is my thing, contributing to the thing of others, who I do not know. … More

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

Middle Ages Folk from the past jostled for a place in the wallwith distant and here the same sizeIn the … 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