Category Archives: Uncategorized

Not ideas about the thing.

I’ve had a strange and wonderful few weeks, so strange and wonderful I hardly know what to write about it. Last month I found out I’d won New Writing North’s Andrew Waterhouse Prize – a development prize awarded in the memory of the poet Andrew Waterhouse, for a selection of poems which ‘reflect a strongContinue reading “Not ideas about the thing.”

And the mountains, the mountains are dancing.

After a few hibernatory months, Spring demands action. Here are details of three events I’m taking part in during April in Lancashire and Cumbria: On April 10th 2014 I’ll be reading at April Poets, along with Yvonne Reddick, Mark Carson, and Ron Baker, with music from Jonathan Tansley. On April 26th 2014 I’ll be reading atContinue reading “And the mountains, the mountains are dancing.”

On Transparency and Self-Reflection

This week I went back up to Dumfries to see my window poem, which has just been installed in the upper landing of the Globe Inn, next to the Burns Room with its historical etchings. I love the way the text is mediated by the transparency and reflective qualities of the glass. Next door, HughContinue reading “On Transparency and Self-Reflection”

Windows for Burns.

Full of melancholy, the Wordsworth party recite Burns’ poetry over his grave in what feels to them a fitting ceremony of remembrance. The party are struck by the view of their native mountains from Burns Country, and the recital (Burns works), the landscape, the physical presence of the corpse, and the feeling of neighbourliness become interlinkedContinue reading “Windows for Burns.”