One of my boyhood memories is of returning to a wrecked home after Bert and Irene’s final fight, to find my pet mice dead in their Woolworth’s biscuit tin, left...
This is taken from my early life in the 1950’s, witnessing domestic violence at first hand. Bert was my mother’s partner for part of my early childhood – and he...
It is based on an actual memory of being left alone in the house, confined to my bedroom one Sunday summer’s evening while my mother and her partner, Bert, went...
When I was a boy I would be sent alone to church by my mother, who would dress me in my Sunday best and wave me on my way. It...
My maternal grandmother, Alice, was an alcoholic, a fact I discovered in later life. But she had a fine singing voice – some said it was of operatic quality. The...
This was written as part of the 1418NOW project, where people were invited to write a letter to the Unknown Soldier, the statue that stands on Platform One at Paddington...
The poem takes the voice of a dead soldier. It emerged from debate around the two-minute silence – should we remain silent or protest against the politicians who send good...
It is not based on an actual death. Its inspiration came from walking over dead leaves on the way to work in winter. It also echoes a funeral service –...
This is for all the marginalised people in the world, the refugee, the stateless person, or simply someone who can still feel lonely in a crowded room. And for all...
Bodnant Gardens, in North Wales, is one of my favourite places, the others being the Mucros House estate near Killarney and a nature reserve in Glengarrif, both in south west...
