NaPoReMo #1: A little support for NaPoWriMo

National Poetry Writing Month started in the US, but it belongs to us all now. Lots of you are having a go at writing a poem every day this month. Here once again is my own list of 30 brief prompts to give you a creative prod every day. Click here to see it and

Jo Bell’s Rules for Poetry

Rules are made to be broken and you may be an innovator, a wild-card, a genius.

But probably not.

Happy Thanksgiving

Some poets dislike National Poetry Day. ‘Doesn’t poetry happen every day?’ they say. Yes, of course it does. Of course it does. But here’s a secret…

The pity is in the poetry. And nowhere else?

This is a usually a blog about poetry, but I don’t keep my politics a secret…. The poetry in which I speak of kindness or friendship comes from the same place as my politics.

Dip me in honey and throw me to the dinosaurs

The Single Woman, as you will know from every film you have ever seen, is feckless and cold and compensates for her tragic lack of children by pretending that she likes her job.

Eight miles out from nowhere

here is Steve Ely showing perfectly how it’s done – how to sink a deep, deep tap root into English language, draw on its nourishment and grow something unshakeable but entirely original.

Never mind who they are. Who are you?

So who are you?
And how do you want to live? A blog about poetry and politics.

A Chant Against Procrastination

This is for anyone who, like me, finds that they have inexplicably avoided every item on their To Do List at the end of the day.

It’s a Spring Thing

Suddenly Spring gets off its arse, puts on its best green outfit, throws lambs and crocuses about as if they were going out of style, puts an Instagram filter on the hills and comes up looking like the credits for a Technicolour film.

A Valentine from the river

Consider love, dear reader: the biggest, baggiest and most baggage-laden word in our lovely language.