All Blogposts

  • Well, that was a first…

    Well, that was a first…

    …or perhaps it’s a sign of things to come.  I’m usually a slow, slow writer (took me FIVE YEARS to finish ‘Honeymoon’,  a runner-up at Bridport in 2010 – I’ve written about that here) but this week I’ve dashed off two new poems, both inspired by these quick-as-a-flash poetry projects on the internet: The Queen Read more

  • Hey Presto! Poems have arrived in my inbox.

    It’s been almost two weeks since I started a separate blog for poems, ‘And Other Poems’.  At first I thought this would simply be an uncluttered space for my own poems but I quickly decided that I wanted to include other people’s work.  How, then, to acquire poems?  Could I just select poems that I Read more

  • Footnote to Ian Duhig’s poem, ‘The Irish Slave’.

    Footnote to Ian Duhig’s poem, ‘The Irish Slave’.

    I’m thrilled to be posting a long out of print poem of Ian Duhig’s on my poetry blog today.  You can read The Irish Slave here.  I am so grateful to Ian for his generosity in sharing this and for sending the following notes, with fascinating links, which help to unravel the poem’s mesmerising story. Read more

  • I’ve started a new blog, just for poems

    I’ve started a new blog, just for poems

    I thought it would be good to create a reasonably quiet, uncluttered, noise-free space for poems. The thing about writing a blog is that it’s often tempting to add images, widgets, links and all sorts of stuff to make your site more interesting to visit.  But poems, in my opinion, really don’t enjoy too much Read more

  • Holiday Blog. Sunshine and Jane Austen.

    Holiday Blog. Sunshine and Jane Austen.

    Just back from a week’s holiday in Brittany with my family. Our raincoats were packed but they never saw the light of day.  For once, our holiday week coincided with the arrival of blue skies and unbroken sunshine.  As we were only there for a week we decided to try to make the most of Read more

  • Poetry at Clarendon College

      You may remember from previous posts here and here, that I have been working with a group of talented Year 9 writers at Clarendon College, Trowbridge who wrote some terrific poems to commemorate the visit of the Olympic Torch Relay to their school. The poems formed one part of the school’s contribution to The People’s Read more