A couple of stories recently linked very directly to my Vermin Cycle of poems. The first is the great news that the EU has now banned all...

Ada King, Countess of Lovelace – AKA Proto-Computer Queen So Friday was International Women’s Day – and Sunday Mother’s Day. Hurrah for...

Sunday, 2pm at Melbourne Street Studios, Leeds. YOU SHOULD COME. IT WILL BE FUN AND MESSY. Bring: glue sticks, scissors, old newspapers...

A review! Thanks Martin – glad you enjoyed the cockroach and its epic fishing-rod antennae: they were pound shop’s finest, sewn into a...

‘Arriving at The British Gas Museum, Leicester, with hopes of a huge display of pilot lights, pipes and valves’ A sign on the door: ...

I took part in the Wicked Words open mic event last night at 7 Arts in Chapel Allerton. What a splendid night – some awesome poetry about...

The science of poetry, the poetry of science I found this article by Ruth Padel a few days ago and just got around to reading it. If...

Part of an excellent comic strip on cat killers from: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill – go on their website and buy their...

“Two vortices their nuptials swore…” I’ve been continuing to read Paul Matthews’ excellent book on writing, Sing Me The Creation. One of...

Galaxies or neurons? The Universe is, or is like, a Giant Brain. Or the Brain is, or is like, a Little Universe. Same diff. Last week, I...

A snow-dome iris, cracking through the screen… This spell of wintry weather reminded me of a poem I wrote and put on some Christmas cards...

The Loneliness of a (Prune-Fingered) Trawler Fisherman This morning, I read a lovely news story by Jonathan Amos about research on...

A 3M-long scrub python is preyed on by a plane. In my effort to write two new poems a week based on things I’ve seen in the news, here’s...

There he is! Yes, the slightly-less blurry one with the big red arrow pointing to it. That isn’t actually there, of course. As part of...

The Vermin Cycle eBook Cover It’s a new year, a new Mayan era (allegedly) and very much a new start. So, being as we made it through...

Here’s a poem I wrote for a Teach First poetry slam we held yesterday – mine didn’t end up being performed (although the poem which did...

We finally got off the Chartered Thames yesterday – I kept calling it that, from a William Blake poem I remembered – ‘London’. I couldn’t...

Botanical Time-Teller At the end of last month, I performed the Vermin Cycle at Green Man Festival – it was a great experience, although...

It's Balance Month. But I won't be doing any of this. (Have you seen 'Man On Wire'? It made my head hurt) On Saturday evening, H Ren and...

I’ve been working recently back in well-known broadcasting institution – and wrote this poem based on an occurrence a week or so ago....