Lifesaving Lines: The Day After, by Michael Laskey

The line that’s been buzzing round my head this week is the final phrase from Michael Laskey’s miracle poem of … More

Lifesaving Poems: Mandy Sutter’s ‘Caring for the Environment’

In 1991 I made the decision to spend more of my time concentrating on the thing that fulfilled me the … More

I wrote the poem below in the summer of 2015. David Cameron had won a slim majority in the … More

Dear Michael I picked up your book the other day and wanted to tell you how much I am enjoying … More

During the Christmas period I am reposting some old posts from my archive. Wishing all my readers a very happy … More

During the Christmas period I am reposting some old posts from my archive. Wishing all my readers a very … More

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

I was saddened to hear of the death of Gerard Benson last week. A poet and anthologist, he was probably … More

The Day After I made a leek and potato soup the day after, prompted by the look of the peeled … More

The Only Son at the Fish ‘n’ Chip Shop He lived with his mother till he was forty-five … More

How It All Started Do you know this dream? An exam room full of neat, serious girls, your lucky gonk … More

Occasionally the entrance of a poem into your life is a combination of a series of tiny events, each of … More

I first had the pleasure of reading this remarkable and delightful poem by Janet Fisher in 2001 in the company of a … More

I met Peter Carpenter in the summer of 2001 at the Arvon Foundation’s Totleigh Barton writing centre. I was at … More

In 1991 I made the decision to spend more of my time concentrating on the thing that fulfilled me the … More

Now that we in Britain have started to think of ourselves as the greatest cycling nation since dinosaurs roamed the … More