Three Lions
Following the final of EURO21 three black footballers were subject to a torrent of racist abuse on social media. Whatever their intent, the racists have only succeeded in provoking a…
Father and Son
On Fathers Day here is a poem I wrote for my father. I wish I could have written it when he was alive to read it. It is his birthday…
Grow Your Own Poem 3
Today I joined the Creative Writing Group at the Maggie Centre in Manchester for the launch of Brambles a pamphlet of poems by my daughter Katie. For those who may…
Grow Your Own Poem 2
When I started reading Kate Clanchy’s How to Grow Your Own Poem I got the idea that I could work through it, reading the poems and writing my own. And…
Grow Your Own Poem 1
Kate Clanchy has written another marvellous book. Following the success of Some kids I taught and what they taught me, which thoroughly deserved its Orwell Prize, she has shown what…
Sharp Scratch
Sharp Scratch is a slim volume of poetry by members of the creative writing group at the Maggie’s Centre in Manchester. Maggie’s is a charity that provides free practical, emotional…
England Poems from a School
Oxford Spires Academy is about as far from our idea of the dreaming spires as you can get. OK, it is in Oxford. But this is working class Oxford in…