Lifesaving Poems: Siân Hughes’s ‘Results’

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

Lifesaving Poems: Tom Raworth’s ‘8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970’

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

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

I have published a new poem in the style of Kenneth Koch, On Twitter, at Ink Sweat & Tears. Whether … More

Photo Credit: Tatiana Wilson You make the thing because you love the thing and you love the thing because someone … More

Norman MacCaig’s ‘Aunt Julia’ was the first poem I remember reading which made me think ‘I need to do this’. … More

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts in May 2010. The idea was to celebrate the poems that I … More

I began writing the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts in May 2010. The idea was to celebrate the poems … More

The Next Big Thing I have been been tagged by poet and blogger Abegail Morley to answer set questions relating to my memoir … More

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 4,329 films were submitted … More

I was formally diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, on Valentine’s Day, 2006. I was 42. … More

Mary At first a fluttering then a kick, his fist pummelling my ribcage when I knelt to pray. They … More

I first read ‘Prosser’ in the bookshop in Northwood, where I grew up, on my way into work and back … More

Originally posted on Lifesaving Poems:
I love the silence that descends on a classroom full of people who are all engaged…

I have just come back from the Greenbelt Festival where I was delighted to give a talk about writing poetry … More

In 1991 I made the decision to spend more of my time concentrating on the thing that fulfilled me the … More

I met Jean Sprackland in 2000, somewhere in the bowels of the Poetry Society in London. We were meeting to … More

I first heard Chris Southgate’s ‘High Fidelity’ sometime in 2005, when I was lucky enough to be part of a … More