My T S Eliot Prize Shortlist Reading, my Paris Retreat, Charlie Hebdo Attacks
Here is the recording made by the Poetry Book Society of my reading for the T S Eliot prize shortlist event at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 11 January 2015. I was first on the huge stage so was...
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Review by Dave Coates and some thoughts about why I wrote Fauverie
Dave Coates has reviewed Fauverie on his blog and for the spring issue of Poetry Wales. His is an in-depth analysis that explores the spirit of my...
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My Tate Modern course The Spirit of Things: Poetry of the Body, Marlene Dumas...
For the third week of my Tate Modern course, The Spirit of Things: Poetry of the Body, we worked with Balindile I by the South African artist Nicholas Hlobo and three of his drawings that incorporate...
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The gate to the Jardin des Plantes, leopards and Mama Amazonica
As this is a flying visit to Paris I booked a little hotel directly opposite the gate to the Jardin des Plantes! This is the view from my window, onto a two hundred year old royal oak, which in the...
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Reading from French translations of Fauverie at Maison de la Poésie in Paris...
On June 13th I gave my first reading from Fauverie in Paris, at the Maison de la Poésie. I was honoured to share the event with Valérie Rouzeau, my favourite contemporary French poet, and even happier...
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Simara running rampage, I have moved!
Last time I was at Vincennes Zoo, for the summer nocturne opening hours, Simara the young female jaguar ran rampage in her pool under the waterfall. She ran back and forth and pounced at the water,...
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The River Lynher in Cornwall Where I Now Live!
At last, after years of yearning to live in the country, I have moved to south east Cornwall from east London. We moved early September but I've been travelling nonstop since then and have only now...
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Dangerous Liaison: Aramis and Simara the jaguars
Yesterday the ninth of December was a historic day. I went to the Parc Zoologique de Paris at Vincennes just as it opened because I'd heard that at last Aramis the black jaguar and Simara the spotted...
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Peruvian Amazon Madre de Dios, Tambopata National Park introduction
I'm going to make a pictorial record of my trip to the Peruvian Amazon on this blog, as an aid to writing poems, so this is an introduction. I went to the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon...
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Boatmen and Peccaries, Madre de Dios Peruvian Amazon
The first time we saw white-lipped peccaries they were in the soccer pitch next to the boatmen's hut. The soccer pitch is where the guides and staff at Tambopata Research Centre relax after lunch...
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Harpy Eagle, Madre de Dios Peruvian Amazon
It's hard to believe that just over two weeks ago I was standing in primary Peruvian rainforest looking up at a harpy eagle! It's rare to see one, but here was this two-year-old juvenile, calling for...
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Macaws at the Chuncho claylick, largest colpa in Amazonia, Tambopata National...
Listening to macaws gathered in palms over a claylick must be the happiest sound on earth. In zoos they sound raucous, but in the wild, they are ecstatic, as they patiently wait for a safe moment to...
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Waves at St Bees, Cumbria, my West Lakes writing residency
It's been ten days since I moved into a large caravan on the beach of St Bees for my West Lakes writing residency, on the north-west coast of Cumbria. I'm taking part in the Elements project, a brand...
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The Lion's Mane Jellyfish of West Cumbria
Imagine coming across this on the beach. When I found my first, I took a photo and back in my caravan at St Bees, tried to identify it on google images. I guessed it was a jellyfish as it wobbled...
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Beach studies, St Bees Cumbria, and the Elements Festival launch!
I've been on St Bees beach in a large caravan for over a month now, with a view onto the open sea, from my temporary home three vans back from the front. I can also see the sandstone head, its rocks...
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Second Trip to the Peruvian Amazon, Tambopata National Reserve, Madre de Dios...
This is the view from the top of the 30 meter scaffolding canopy tower over the Madre de Dios rainforest, late afternoon, taken on the first day of our arrival in the Peruvian Amazon, when we stayed in...
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Drama on the Tambopata River, Madre de Dios, Peruvian Amazon
You never know what dramas are unfolding on the Tambopata River in the Peruvian Amazon. We steered the canoe to photograph a great black hawk perched on a dead branch when our motorista saw the huge...
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On seeing a wild jaguar in the Peruvian Amazon for Mama Amazonica
The first time I went to the Peruvian Amazon last June, to Tambopata Research Centre in the middle of a vast protected national park, I hoped to see a jaguar. It's easier to see them in the Brazilian...
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Mama Amazonica now available for pre-order and is a Poetry Book Society Choice
Mama Amazonica is now available for pre-order, from Bloodaxe and Amazon etc. And to my utter delight and surprise is selected as the Poetry Book Society Autumn Choice. It exists – almost – all 112...
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Black Caiman with Butterflies, Mama Amazonica and mental illness
Mama Amazonica will be out later this summer from Bloodaxe, and I'm both excited and nervous. It's already available for preorder on Amazon! And the Poetry Book Society has selected it as their Autumn...
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