The poem always wins

You think it will be about your childhood. It turns out to be about an onion. Or a night in … More

It has gone

For now, at least, it has gone. The notebooks with promising phrases, the backs of envelopes with doodles: they are … More

I have finished the thing. People come up to me to say things. It seems to have gone well. While … More

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

Ink Sweat & Tears have published a new poem, ‘Hymn of Rain’. Here’s to another barbecue summer!

The book is not in love with me. I shower it with love and promises of more stationery, but all … More

I’m talking about real influence now –Raymond Carver This is the first in a new series of blog posts about people … More

We are driving to a thing. We are lost. It is a lunch thing, so the children are in tow. … More

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

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

The Sofas, Fogs and Cinemas I have lived it, and lived it, My nervous, luxury civilisation, My sugar-loving nerves … More

I followed a lead, nudged by a hunch, and it brought me here. The book is In Their Own Words (edited by … More

I was at a thing recently. Not my thing, a good thing. Luminosity filled the evening. In the pouring of … More

My main memory of watching The West Wing is the way Martin Sheen would wrap up discussions with his staff by … More

I am at a thing. It is not my thing, it is someone else’s thing. Poets are there. People I … More

[S]everal things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man … More

I am at a thing. I have been asked to read a couple of poems. It is not my thing, … More

I have said goodbye to the poem. For a while, a long while, we were not even speaking. After the … More