Lifesaving Poems: Philip Larkin’s ‘Going’

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

Angry

’Have you seen my coat?’ says the book. ’Nope. You seen mine?’ ’Nope. You look tired. Are you tired?’ ’You … More

‘What’s happening?’ ’Nothing,’ I say. ’Doesn’t look like nothing,’ the book says. ‘It looks like you’re brooding. Are you brooding?’ … More

I was in a waiting room, having cycled, a bit out of breath, a book on my knee, trying to … More

I am deeply honoured to have my poem When The Holy Spirit Danced With Me In My Kitchen used as a … More

I have been writing recently about going deeper, not wider. Listening to music I already possess, reading the books already … More

As I was saying the book that I bought and then did not read and which caught my eye recently is Now … More

Below Zero We are at a party that doesn’t love us. At last the party lets its mask drop and … More

The Curtain Falls Suddenly a life is over – Ends with such serious charades The Dean makes lame quips … More

Listening to the wonderful array of speakers at the Foyle Young Poets symposium on Monday, I tried to think back … More

Poem Without Sleep All the things that could happen to the baby came to me last night as I … More

It is odd to speak of missing someone you never met, but this is how I feel about the American … More

My first reader was a man called Fergus. A friend of a flatmate at university, I never got to … More

Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital 1 The IV drips its slow news. So long, lean and turbulent morning! … More

In a Church No, no time for this the outside clamours to be heard, the books, you see, … More

‘What else are you not telling me?’ says the book. ‘Nothing,’ I say. The book rolls its eyes, gives a … More

I went home the other day. I mean home-home, where I was born, and where my parents still live. … More

from A New Guide 7 Look at this arch. It is part of a building more than seven hundred years old. … More