Even though I was expecting it, as the bullet train pulled into the platform it was still a shock to see the word ‘Hiroshima’ on the sign, in the same everyday font used for station names all over Japan. I will never forget the things I saw in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, or the […]
Poems
My Chaucer Translation – Third Place in the Stephen Spender Prize
I’m delighted to report that a passage from my translation of Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde has been awarded third prize in this year’s Stephen Spender Prize, as announced in the Guardian. I’ve been working on the translation for over two years – the poem is over 8,000 lines long – and it’s great to receive […]
Poem — Okuizome Haiku
A little poem for my children’s Okuizome – a Japanese ceremony performed when children are 100 days old. They are given their first chopsticks and ‘eat’ their first piece of fish. I use inverted commas, as they only pretend to eat! According to my wife, fish used in Japanese ceremonies must be very fresh, and […]
Four Poems Recorded for Poetcasting
Last year I recorded four poems for Poetcasting, the poetry podcasting site put together by the enterprising Alex Pryce. Poetcasting is a brilliantly simple idea – ask contemporary poets to record a handful of poems and distribute them on a blog as MP3 downloads. I recorded four poems – ‘Hiroshima’, ‘The Devon Vihara’, ‘Love Hotel’ […]
Poem – ‘The To-Do List Before Christmas’
I’ve just posted a Christmas poem over at Lateral Action: ‘The To-do List Before Christmas‘. You probably need to be a computer geek/productivity nerd to get all the references, but hopefully you’ll find something to enjoy in it even if you’re not as sad as Lou. Merry Christmas!