Lifesaving Poems: Adrienne Rich’s ‘In the Wake of Home’

In 1991 I made the decision to teach part-time so that I could put poetry more at the centre of … More

Lifesaving Poems: Christopher North’s ‘The Dog’

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

As I said the other day, Geoffrey Summerfield’s Worlds is one of the most important books in my life. As I … More

I once heard Stephen Knight say ‘If I am reading well then I am writing well.’ It was a Q … More

When I speak to trainee primary school teachers about their views of poetry I am often struck by their divergent … More

I found John Burnside‘s ‘A Private Life’ in a poetry magazine some years ago. I wasn’t much interested in … More

It is odd to speak of missing someone you never met, but this is how I feel about the American … More

Love for Now did not begin with an idea but an illness. As I have written elsewhere, there wasn’t a plan. I … More

The Bath Festivals‘ Write Team was a creative writing project designed to develop pupil confidence and engagement in their learning. The … More

Towards the end of my treatment for cancer in 2006 I had one of the most profound conversations of my … More

In 2007 Sue Dymoke, Andrew Lambirth and I got together and decided we were going to apply to the ESRC … More

Sometimes people, including poets, ask me how my writing is going. The difference between a poet and a non-poet asking … More

I wrote here a couple of days ago about my aversion to using war metaphor to describe cancer. Judging from … More

Ultramarinefor Philip ArcherLooking for the perfect blue,water to swim in, not through,to fill his sea, his massive bowlof hand-thick bronze … More

I first encountered Siân Hughes‘s poems sitting around a table with some talented teenage poets at the Arvon Foundation‘s writing … More

8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970poemTom Raworth (from Jumpstart, ed. Cliff Yates, Poetry Society, 1999) As I say in my previous blog post, … More

Here is a revelation: I did not always adore the work of Frank O’Hara. I had pause to consider why … More

You make the thing because you love the thing and you love the thing because someone else loved it enough … More