Not on speaking terms

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

Go, little poem

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

The poem is not happy. It glares up at me, its eyes spitting fury. ‘How dare you take me in … More

I am being pursued by the poem. It has been there for several years now, asking to be written. I … More

You stick to the routines you have set up, notebook observations, voracious reading, sending the work out to mags, even … More

You’re at a reading, to support a friend. It is not going well. Not your friend, who is quietly stealing … More

The Little Snoring Poetry Group have written to you asking if you would come and read to them some of … More

You go a talk by a Leading Poet. No one you know is there, but still you sit at the … More

Lately I have been pondering the practice of paying attention, vis-à-vis my habit of keeping a notebook to capture impressions, … More

Readers of this blog will know I have been thinking a lot about stationery recently. (Actually, that is something of … More

My blog post yesterday about the stationery thing provoked more responses than I ever imagined it would. Among the … More

At the start of each academic year, usually when I have known them for a week or so, I make … More

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

Once upon a time I broke the rules and spoke with another poet (it doesn’t matter who) about a … More

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

Dear Anthony (I will never get used to calling you Tony) Here are some words of advice from your nearing-fifty-year-old … More

If you’re not enough without the gold medal, you’ll never be enough with it. – John Candy, Cool Runnings I did not … More

I met Evangeline Paterson once, in the early Nineties, at a workshop in London. Rupert Loydell suggested I went as … More