“It’s entirely conceivable that life’s splendour surrounds us all, and always in its complete fullness, accessible but veiled, beneath the surface, invisible, far away. But there it lies – not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If we call it by the right word, by the right name, then it comes. This is the essence of…

No Swan So Fine “No water so still as the   dead fountains of Versailles.” No swan, with swart blind look askance and gondoliering legs, so fine   as the chintz china one with fawn- brown eyes and toothed gold collar on to show whose bird it was.  Lodged in the Louis Fifteenth   candelabrum-tree…

Well, we’re coming back to life now, and about time. Either you’ve been writing poems all year and want somewhere to think about sending them out to, or maybe like me you’ve barely been able to write anything, and you feel you need a spur to your creative unconscious. (Or maybe something to wake you…

You know who Andrew Marvell was — one of the major Metaphysical poets of 17th century England, he’s best known for his poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’: ‘Had we but world enough, and time…’ As well as this memento mori, he also wrote a series of four poems narrated by a mysterious figure called the…

Better short notice than no notice! At 8pm tomorrow evening, Saturday the 20th, I’m giving a free one-hour workshop on Why You Need Poetry in Your Life. It’s part of YORStory, a brand-new festival aimed at bringing creatives and business types together. But wait! My event will be (I hope) interesting for everyone from business…

PHEW! Well, here we are. This new website is now the official hub of operations—the engine room. It features the workshops I’m currently offering, and the work I can do for and with other writers. The About Me page tells about how I gained my writing and editing chops—on the job, old-school—and I still do…