Category craic

Commissioned poems. The very thought of them used to put the fear of god into me. I suspect a large part of that came down to imposter syndrome – the sneaking suspicion that as soon as someone asked me to…

They’d have you believe it’s a dog-eat-dog world, where everyone’s out for themselves, and only the strong survive. One look at our supposedly glorious leaders (there where they are because of the good fortune of birth rather than any appreciable…

Yesterday lunchtime, in response to seeing this government ad, I wrote a poem. By teatime, it had gone viral. By the end of the evening, it had been shared over 1000 times. I woke this morning to discover it had…

Making a living as an artist isn’t always easy. At a time when the world is in flux, it’s even trickier. And it’s highly unlikely that any one of us has all the answers of how to get by, which…

Last Saturday, after six months where the only poetry gigs I’ve done have been online via Zoom, I got back up on a stage in front of an audience who were – unbelievably – in the same room. Dear reader,…

In a year which is doing its level best to throw up one unexpected and bizarre story after another, news which would normally warrant the raising of an eyebrow or several no longer cuts the mustard, and is relegated to…

It took a while, but I’ve finally plunged into the world of live online poetry gigs. After weeks of dithering about, last Sunday I did three – yes, three! – gigs via Zoom with fellow pandemonialist and Wolverhampton poet laureate Emma…

I’ve had time on my hands of late (who hasn’t, eh?) and that’s brought all sorts of unexpected adventures in its wake. The house is considerably tidier and cleaner than it was when lockdown started back in what feels like…

It’s been an interesting few days. On Friday I did my first ever ‘live’ online poetry gig – yes, I know, I’m late to the party – and found that while it’s not really quite the same as standing up…

The sun’s shining, the resident blackbird is singing away, and I’m delighted to say that my poem ‘dreamtime’ has been included in Carol Ann Duffy’s #WWWAN project alongside some cracking pieces of work, all of which are responses – one…

Last Sunday, I finally held the launch for ‘thirty-one small acts of love and resistance’. Yes, it was online in mid-May rather than in a pub in Wolverhampton in March, but that’s part and parcel of adapting to the new…