[Given the Sun's reluctance to appear this year, I thought it was a good time to revive a piece I wrote for Birkbeck College's splendid Writer's Hub. This article first appeared there in June 2012.]
Read MoreRemembering 'Simoraine'
Every Father's Day I think about funeral music, a theme that's played through my mind ever since October 1997, when I heard the pieces that my musician father, Clive Barraclough, had selected for his final 'appearance'.
Read MoreBest American Poetry Blog
This week (Monday to Friday), I'm a guest blogger over at the Best American Poetry website. I feel a little guilty, as I'm neglecting my own site, but I'm hoping to continue here from next week.
Read MoreNew blog
A few years ago I had a blog called 'Fallout'. We fell out. This is going to be the new blog. Life, literature, culture, my struggles playing the trumpet, which I took up last summer.