Remember I told you I had a couple of new poetry projects in the pipeline? The first one is now live. It’s a poetry podcast called A Mouthful of Air, that aims to reconnect poetry with its roots as an oral art – and reconnect poets with listeners. Here’s the introduction from the website, AMouthfulofAir.fm: […]
Poetry
(Audio) Listen to Me Read from My Chaucer Translation at the Stephen Spender Prize Reception
I just noticed that the Stephen Spender Trust has added an audio recording to their website, of me reading from my Chaucer translation at the London reception for the 2016 Stephen Spender Prize. Click here to read the text, and here to listen to me read my translation of the opening stanzas of Troilus and […]
(Audio) Mimi Khalvati Interview: Poetry as Discovery
I’ve just released an interview with Mimi Khalvati on my 21st Century Creative podcast, where she reads some of her poems and talks about her creative process. My own poetry has benefitted hugely from Mimi’s teaching and feedback over many years, so I’m delighted to feature her on the podcast. She has a lot of […]
Charmless and Interesting: Robert Archambeau on Conceptual Poetry
There’s a thought-provoking article article on the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet blog, by Robert Archambeau: What Conceptual Poetry Lacks And What It’s Got. In case you, like me, were wondering what he means by conceptual poetry, it turns out to be very similar to the more familiar (ahem) concept of conceptual art, i.e. work in which […]
‘The Whitsun Weddings’: In the Midst of Life We Are in Death
‘The Whitsun Weddings’ is usually regarded as one of Philip Larkin’s brighter poems: a beautiful evocation of romantic love, with newlyweds riding the train to London against a backdrop of town and country scenes. The visual detail is gorgeous, like a succession of paintings by Constable, Lowry and Beryl Cook. In the context of Larkin’s […]
