Twiglets

I believed you when You said their legs were made from Twiglets. I wish I still did. We were one blackbird with two wings back then. But I’ve been flying around in circles ever since You flew the nest Leaving…
Poetry, bikes, dementia...
Poetry, bikes, dementia...
If music be the food of love then poetry may just be the language of emotion. Home for my own words and those of others who in some way inspire, inform, entertain or educate me.

I believed you when You said their legs were made from Twiglets. I wish I still did. We were one blackbird with two wings back then. But I’ve been flying around in circles ever since You flew the nest Leaving…

With Margot Robbie cast as Cathy in the latest iteration of Wuthering Heights, my co-host, Pele Cox, argues that without poetry Emily Brontë’s book wouldn’t have been written in the first place. So no roles for Robbie and her Heathcliff,…

A poem for Valentine’s Day I say: goodnight I love you. You say: I love you more See you in the morning. But there will be a time There will be a time When the night is not good And…

Who first wrote roses are red, violets are blue, honey is sweet and so are you? Who were the lines written for? And when? Plus is poetry the language of love? Just some of the questions Pele Cox and I seek answers…

What is poetic voice? Is it synonymous with style? Or something else? Perhaps the poet’s “take” on the world? Pele Cox and Rich Uridge seek answers from a range of greats including Emily Dickinson, Edna St Vincent Millay and Vernon Watkins…

Pele Cox and I ask: what is the purpose of poetry? With the help of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Thomas Wyatt, we conclude that, in part, poetry’s job is to move readers to virtuous action or…

A walking stick, a deadly arc Your face unstitched and come apart. The dying light’s the deepest dark It casts a shadow, leaves a mark. A finger painting just in red A rainbow arched beside your bed. No treasured end,…

The poet Pele Cox and I discuss the differences between poetry (her world) and journalism (mine). With the help of Ted Hughes and his Birthday Letters we talk about how poetry can tackle shocking subject matter in a way that…

Delighted to announce that I’m co-hosting a series of talks on poetry with the poet Pele Cox. I’ll make sure I post each episode here as we record it. Or you can check out the programme website or sign up…

There is no pastRememberedOr futureImagined.Just the present.Tense.A singularity.You live in the moment. Very on point as they say.Content (or so I hope) sucking tea from a sippy cupOr shredding tissues in your lapWhile I am walking an imaginary dog (the…