The great Sampdoria, Juventus and Chelsea striker Gianluca Vialli has died, and I am sad. He was 58 and had … More
Tag: Remission
A new review of Riddance… from 2013
A huge thank you to Ken Head and Helen Ivory at Ink Sweat & Tears for this review of Riddance … More
Lifesaving Lines: What the Living Do, by Marie Howe
Two great lines for the price of one (it is Christmas, after all) this week, from Marie Howe’s extraordinary poem … More
Summer reading
To continue this season of not, where I have been reposting old blog posts and links to some others, I … More
On Being Chipper
There were just a few of us in the room, gathered round a table. I had been invited to speak. … More
A day he won’t have
I had bumped into a friend at the cash machine. We greeted each other, as we always do, with a … More
Dear Cancer
Dear Cancer It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Fifteen years, to be precise. To the day. Amazing to realise it … More
Poem of the year?
Before I start, I want to say that this is not about stats. This is not about stats. What this … More
Open letter to Arthur Frank (on reading At the Will of the Body)
Dear Arthur Frank I’m writing to say thank you for your extraordinary book At the Will of the Body. It is … More
The Year of Living Deeply 28: The Toffee Crisp Mystery
Phil has been round. I know this because we came home the other night to find a pack of Toffee … More
Deck shoes and other enthusiasms
Some of you will have seen this blog post before. It is a taster of some of the contents … More
Open letter to James Schuyler
Dear James (may I call you James?) Though it’s been a while (at least ten years, maybe more) it feels as … More
The Year of Living Deeply 8: Doing One Thing
I am really bad at doing one thing. If I am chopping an onion, I am listening to the radio. … More
Deck shoes and other enthusiasms
I am delighted to be publishing Deck Shoes, a book of enthusiasms, influences and memoir, with Impress Books, next year. … More
Book news for 2019
Next year is going to be a big year for me. I am going to have two new books out … More
Lifesaving Poems: Tom Andrews’s ‘Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital’
Reading Frank O’Hara in the Hospital 1 The IV drips its slow news. So long, lean and turbulent morning! … More
On Being Chipper
There were just a few of us in the room, gathered round a table. I had been invited to … More
What you read in 2017
Dear Friends Here are the blog posts which you read most often in 2017, according to my WordPress stats: … More