Influences: Alan Booth

Alan Booth wasn’t the first teacher to teach me something, but he was the first who drew me into the … More

Lifesaving Poems: the book

Photograph © Bloodaxe Books Ltd I am delighted to announce that my Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts has now become … More

I am taking a break from writing brand new blog posts over the summer. Instead of posting new work I … More

The Class to the Class of 2014 after Raymond Carver The class with beautiful scarves The class who learned … More

I am completely torn apart -Rupert Loydell When I first read Raymond Carver’s Fires I loved and understood all of it, … More

Having not succeeded at school, I’ve always thought of poetry as the holidays, rather than term-time. Hugo Williams I went … More

I was very saddened to learn recently of the death of Michael Baldwin, the novelist, poet, writing tutor and former … More

Damp white imprints dog the feet; snowbound trolley, snowbound street. Her tip of glove to lip and cheek, “Goodbye.” Go. … More

When I visit schools to read and talk about poetry there is often some sort of Q and A following … More

Hysteria As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved in her laughter and being part of it, until her … More

A comment Mark Robinson made in the days following Seamus Heaney’s death in August resonated with me. He said he … More

I wrote yesterday about pitching poems in the classroom which are aimed not at the crowd but perhaps one … More

One year I decided that I would decorate one of my teaching rooms with my collection of Poems on the … More

Apart from e e cummings and the genius Anon, one of my chief discoveries in the Voices and Junior Voices series that I … More

As I say in my previous blog post, I owe my knowledge of ‘8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970’ to the … More

I first came across ‘Birth of the Foal’ at the recommendation of the great Cliff Yates. He told me he’d been … More