All Blogposts

  • This Writer’s Life

    This Writer’s Life

    On the one hand the cliché of that title, on the other hand the article is off and running and you’re reading it (thank you, by the way). On the one hand I will miss the friends I’ve made during the last 18 months when I’ve been reading aloud every week with people living with… Read more

  • New review for ‘The Misplaced House’

    New review for ‘The Misplaced House’

      Thanks very much to Emma Lee Review of my poetry pamphlet ‘The Misplaced House’ at her blog.     Read more

  • Poetry and Self-Promotion

    Poetry and Self-Promotion

    This post has been prompted by a letter I received, out of the blue, from a Writing student who’s composing a research essay about the connections between getting published and “self-promotion in contemporary poetry in the UK.”  The letter goes on to say that “self-promotion is a rather poor term…… and that online sharing of work……connecting with other… Read more

  • A quick update and a mention for Poetry Wales

    A quick update and a mention for Poetry Wales

    I’ve been ill with the first cold I’ve had in about two years, maybe longer.  It was a stinker: constant sneezing, dripping nose, watering eyes.  I was measuring out my life with soggy tissues.  I’ve only just stopped feeling wretched.  Somewhere in the foggy depths of my fuzziheadedness, I seem to recall receiving a very nice… Read more

  • New poem at The Morning Star

    New poem at The Morning Star

    Since I first published this post, I’ve added some more thoughts about documentary poetry and about my reasons for writing the poem ‘Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe Says Sorry’. The poem came out of Andrea Brady’s Documentary Poetics workshop at Poetry Swindon.  Andrea sent through excellent course materials and poems by writers such as Mahmoud Darwish, Carolyn Forché, Ken Saro-Wiwa… Read more

  • I am not a failure I am not a failure

    I am not a failure I am not a failure

    It’s the end of the first quarter of 2015 and I must admit that my New Year’s Resolution to write for one hour every day has slipped a little.  Argh!  I’ve been writing in dribs and drabs but these little scraps don’t add up to one hour each day.  IamnotafailureIamnotafailure I keep telling myself. Of… Read more