Broken Sleep’s new anthology My Ear is Full of Milk is a fantastic thing. Comparisons with Samuel Beckett, who wrote Waiting for Godot with Ollie and Stan in mind, make perfect sense. The surreal mixes with the existential within these pages. It also serves as a primer for the best work of the comedy duo.… Continue reading

It’s always great to see a new issue of Finished Creatures, edited by Jan Heritage. Her online launches understand the pleasure of sharing work with like-minded people (there’s an in-person launch in London, too). I often find that editors choose poems I don’t particularly care for, but Jan always picks the ones I would hope… Continue reading

There’s lots of good news to share, including a poem in Poetry London. It’s called ‘Enquiry’ and I’m really grateful to editor Niall Campbell for taking it. As with all issues under his editorship, it’s surrounded by good work. Continue reading

What a pleasant surprise to learn that this poem was shortlisted by Abigail Parry for the 2024 Live Canon International Poem competition. Not least because it documents a trip from the Czech Republic to Germany eighteen years ago, when I and my then girlfriend hitched a lift from Prague to attend a christening in Hamburg.… Continue reading

Huge thanks to poet Rachel Lewis for publishing this interview with me on her Substack A Poet’s Work. We discuss different aspects of writing about grief – the reasons, benefits and dangers. I also touch on my forthcoming collection Phantoms. I enjoyed being made to think (after a night of limited sleep, camping with my… Continue reading

Really happy to have my poem ‘At the MIND Drop-in Centre, Beckenham’ appear in the Grassroots issue of Magma, edited by Lisa Kelly and Patrizia Longhitano. I particularly like Rona Luo’s poem ‘Vinegar’ and Elizabeth Gibson’s ‘They have put an oxygen mask on the seagull’ in this issue. It was the 30th anniversary and the… Continue reading

My poem ‘Annunciation’ appears in issue 142 of Poetry Ireland Review alongside some wonderful work by Katrina Naomi, Lisa Kelly and an interview with Damian Smyth. It’s a poem springing from Fra Angelico’s fresco from 1441, to which I was introduced in a workshop with Claire Williamson. Recently, I have been ending readings with this… Continue reading

Thanks to Niall Campbell for an honourable mention in the Poetry London Presents showcase for 10-line and under poems. I really admire Niall for his initiatives to get poetry ‘out there’ and his hands-on approach to editorship. Shout out to the current issue too, which contains some great poetry from Rachel Long, Deryn Rees-Jones, Chelsea… Continue reading

Hooray to have my poem ‘My mother needs a second coming out’ in Jo Clement’s singular and characterful Butcher’s Dog. Lots of great work here including that by Tiffany Atkinson and Samuel Tongue. Copies available here. Continue reading

Dithering Chaps Delighted that my fellow Fire River Poet Nicole Durman has had her first chapbook Ghosts of Nightshifts Past accepted by Dithering Chaps. You can read about it here. I’ve admired Nicole’s work for its energy and untold tales, so it’s great to see it get the attention it deserves. Reading at the Creation… Continue reading