My first time in Newcastle. Stepping off the train I was struck but how beautiful and clean the station with its high, curved Victorian canopy. And then the metro – yes, Newcastle has an underground – was really modern, well-lit and with modern infrastructure. The cars feel like being on London's District Line. Alas, I... Continue Reading →

Earlier this month St. Andrews held its 20th StAnza poetry festival. This year there was a particular focus on contemporary French poetry and on the poetry of heights, of walking and climbing mountains. The festival crowd was distinctly Scottish and European, or should I say Scottish, thus European? Within 30 minutes of the opening reception on... Continue Reading →

A few people have praised the cover illustration and general production values of my new HappenStance pamphlet. Gillian Rose's wonderful design of two chairs has a beautiful simplicity to it, suggesting both a conversation between two people, but also the absence of people, a conversation that was. Chairs on pavements outside French street cafés are such a... Continue Reading →

I have had a few poems published recently in Magma, The Fenland Reed and Under the Radar. I was lucky to be asked to read as at the launch of issue 56 of Magma, on the theme of revolution, edited by Laurie Smith and Jane R Rogers. A fine evening spent at the London Review of Books bookshop in... Continue Reading →

I am really pleased to have 4 poems published in issue 3 of The Compass, the beautiful online magazine edited by Lindsey Holland and Andrew Forster, and with reviews edited by Kim Moore. The poems deal with the aftermath of the Paris attacks last November. One of them contains 6 short lines from a Jacques... Continue Reading →