The most popular lifesaving poems

Earlier this year my Lifesaving Poems blog enjoyed something of a milestone. Not as momentous as Jimmy Anderson taking his … More

From the archives: A curry with Matthew Sweeney

I am in the pub with Rupert. We are talking about planning a thing. It’s definitely going to happen. A … More

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

Here are the most read Lifesaving Poems of 2014. For the first time I have been able to compare last … More

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems posts in May, 2011. Below is a list of the twenty most popular poems … More

I am in the pub with Rupert. We are talking about planning a thing. It’s definitely going to happen. A … More

We had been in the new city for two months. The house we had bought was even more of a … More

Phil Bowen gave me this poem, written by a ten-year-old girl, in 1998 to illustrate a writing game he submitted … More

To His Lost Lover Now they are no longerany trouble to each other he can turn things over, get down … More

I was struck by a remark of Seamus Heaney in an interview he gave some years ago now. He was … More