Before

Before No shoes and a glossyred helmet, I rodeon the back of my dad’sHarley at seven years old.Before the divorce.Before … More

The fear of poetry -by Muriel Rukeyser

The Fear of Poetry In this moment when we facehorizons and conflicts widerthan ever before, we want our resources,the ways … More

Courage It is in the small things we see it.The child’s first step,as awesome as an earthquake.The first time … More

I can’t be alone in experiencing the coronavirus crisis and resulting lockdown as something of an infringement on my … More

Young Poets’ Stories project update: Today we add a reading resources for young poets page to the Young Poets’ Stories website. … More

Calling all Winning & Highly Commended Foyle Young Poets 2012 – 2019 If you are a young writer who … More

For reasons I cannot go into here, I am finishing 2019 in a tired frame of mind. (I am not … More

Greenbelt Festival, Friday 23rd August Outside, it is a very warm 28º. Inside our tented venue the canvass and stage … More

‘Hello,’ says the book. ‘I’ve missed you.’ ‘I’ve missed you, too,’ I say. I look at the book for a … More

Thank you to the heroic bloggers and poets Josephine Corcoran and Robin Houghton for their recentish posts about their desks. … More

Shute Festival, 13 September, St Michael’s Church The audience in pews. September sunlight and warmth still in the air, light … More

Settee in Autumn The leaves change colour and fallon the russet settee. Sticky buds are stuckdown the back of the … More

Paul Brookes at Wombwell Rainbow has posted an interview with me about my reading and writing life, my influences … More

Bike You, who have borne three sonsof mine, still bear my weightroutinely, transporting me. An odd pair: your classic … More

I am love with making notes. I makes notes in the morning, at bedtime, in the private places, in meetings, … More

Though I know him, his name escapes me. He is really a friend of a friend of a friend, the … More

I hear him before I see him. Sometimes not even that. The proverbial person you could set your clock by. … More

One of the privileges of writing this blog is inviting others to write guest blog posts. I have collected these … More