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Poetry and the Now   What does “the now” mean, and how can an understanding of it help with your poetry?   Living in the now means being fully present in the moment, without dwelling on the [...]

A few years ago I was asked to run a short series of poetry workshops for older people in supported accommodation.  I had never done anything like it and felt quite nervous- what theme could I [...]

    Not every poem has a happy ending.  Sometimes a poem- whether you’re writing or reading it- is a way to sit with a difficult emotion.  In terms of looking after yourself, sitting with a [...]

We’ve talked about how poetry can influence our wellbeing through the process of accessing and sometimes confronting memories, emotions and personal experience.  Everyone has a story to tell.  [...]

As we are sometimes reminded, writing about how we feel doesn’t necessarily make for great poetry.  I would argue that it is essential to put emotion into your poetry, to give it some heart. I [...]

In the last two posts we’ve spoken about the ways writing about the past can be healing.  Now we turn to the present, to the ways that writing poetry can be helpful in the here and now.  [...]

   In the last post we talked about memories, and how they can make great starting points for our poetry.  But confronting our memories can be scary.  What if the good isn’t as good as we [...]

Poetry is self-expression.  Whether you are writing about your deep inner feelings, or a vase on the windowsill, you are expressing yourself.  Your thoughts and reflections about your emotions, [...]

If you ask someone to write a funny poem off the top of their head, they’re likely to come up with a couple of rhyming lines.  This is because rhyme sounds pleasing to the ear, and also because [...]

Louis MacNeice, ‘London Rain’   MacNeice was no Londoner, but he helped London during the most tumultuous period in its history: The Second World War. He was a fire watcher, which meant [...]