One of the things I have learned about myself in the last year or so is that I can sometimes … More
Tag: Teaching Poetry
At the teach out
Today I had one of the most precious teaching experiences of my life. Because we are taking strike action … More
Workshopping Settee in Autumn
Settee in Autumn The leaves change colour and fall on the russet settee. Sticky buds are stuck … More
Open letter to Alicia Stubbersfield (LentBlog31)
Dear Alicia I can’t believe it is three years since I got to hang out with you at Totleigh … More
What really matters?
I was on the phone to a writer friend the other week. In itself this is a rare occurrence: normally … More
On giving feedback
I found myself in the position of giving feedback to some writers recently. The writers were teachers who had signed … More
Writing in the cracks
I was having a coffee with a new writer friend the other day. Not having known each other for very … More
What do I know?
One of the more interesting paradoxes of analysing the interviews of professional writers during the Teachers as Writers (TaW) … More
Reading Wallace Stevens
‘I’ve been reading Wallace Stevens.’ ‘So?’ ‘I thought you’d be pleased.’ ‘I don’t get it.’ ‘Wallace Stevens!’ ‘I know who … More
Life beyond the door
Last week saw an important milestone for Teachers as Writers. The CPD/feedback day gave everyone involved in the project – … More
Lifesaving Poems: Sharon Olds’s ‘Looking at Them Asleep’
Continuing in this mini-series of poems I shared in my reading at the Greenbelt festival last weekend, here is Looking … More
A need to answer, by Robert Pinsky
An artist needs not so much an audience as to feel a need to answer, a promise to respond. … More
Controlling how poetry is read: Michael Rosen in conversation with Marina Boroditskaya, via Modern Poetry in Translation
In the last year, another government initiative has created a compulsory part of the curriculum: learning poetry by heart … More
What we talk about when we talk about writing
The more I talk about writing with students, teachers, colleagues and other writers, the less I am sure that we … More
The power of poetry
A speech given at the NATE annual conference, June 2014 My early poetic experiences were not ‘poetic’ at … More
On silence, by Jorie Graham
I think I am probably in love with silence, that other world. And that I write, in some way, to … More
Stealing
One of the joys of working on the Teachers as Writers project is that I get to steal. As … More
The Arvon effect
When the Arvon student is put in posession of that creative self, which was hitherto inaccessible, two things, in particular, … More