“How shall I be a poet?
How shall I write in rhyme?
You told me once ‘the very wish
Partook of the sublime.'
Then tell me how! Don't put me off
With your ‘another time'!”
—
“And would you be a poet
Speechless
Her name? Her name is Generose, here is how her story flows: 
through the latest news of war
our ruler coming out to say
‘Bombs Again!' Though his minions'
mincing words, force-feeding what
‘we' need to do, and why, (with regret)
some evil people (and some others)
must die;
through the soldiers jumping to,
while I, and my kind, are left gasping
behind, holding a small stand somewhere
like this, appealing to someone
like you.
So…
Can you come with me
to a place far from here, where
four or five m– No. Let
me begin again. Let me start
with myself, with yesterday when I
A Reply and An Answer.
Here is a small poem about a big subject:
Listen, my parents,
the grasses are crawling,
the trees are all thrumming.
Soon, birds won’t be able to sing.
Listen. Hear me. Our time
Answering Back
One major inspiration of art and writing is… art and writing. I'm reading a brilliant anthology, 
edited by Carol Ann Duffy, called Answering Back, with a simple, delightful concept: a living poet chooses a poem from the past that has touched them and writes a new poem in response.
It's a beautiful collection of calls and replies, echos and illuminations across centuries — and gives a vivid sense of how, through writing, language and human connection transcend time and place.
Here's a poem about art by WH Auden, chosen by Billy Collins and,
Surfacing. A Poem.
Down by the river bank I see a life-ring on a line, and think of how we used to swim in talk, … Read more
Truth To Tell. A Poem.
‘”Thou Shalt Not!” soon fades,’the Storyteller* said. ‘But “Once Upon a Time…” goes on forever.’ It is morning, May in … Read more
Creating Great Greeting Cards
A guest post by Phil Bolsta, offering the secrets learned in his career as a writer for major greeting card companies: 9 rules, 8 insights, 11 business tips and 16 techniques.
Spinning Still: A Poem
So now we meet each evening to meld/the passing and the coming life/suspended/in fading light
that knows/ just what it holds…
A Meditation on Meditation
Short Poem from “Inspiration Meditation: A Guided Meditation to Develop Creative Intelligence. For Writers, Artists & Everyone”. By Orna Ross.
Life's Work
The great Artist is at work.
Around his house, his children move
in whispers, while his wife
lays down a dinner tray,
tells that it’s there
with two soft raps – no more – tapped on his study door.
The great Artist begs his work
Twitter Can Make You A Better Writer
It is one of the pardoxes of art that structure, form and convention liberate the artist – Stephen Fry (@stephenfry).
Yes, yes, I know that those of us who care about the English language are supposed to be outraged by technology-induced social-speak, supposedly the death of civilised discourse.
And yes, I too hate the lazy abbreviations that so often accompany texts or micro-blogging: the LOLs and BFNs, the “u” for “you”, and “r” for “are”, and all the rest.
But…
I contend that you don't have to
10 Things I know About…Creativity
by Pamela Travers – author, Mary Poppins. (“There are no answers, only questions.”)
- The Unknown — our beautiful Anglo-Saxon word, intimate, reverberant, profound, not so much to be understood as stood under while it rains upon us — that is something I could live with and, indeed, have revered, cherished, and tried to serve for many a year and day.
- Call it the Unknown and one can conceive of the creative process as
To Sligo for St Patrick's Day
It looks like I'm going to be moving to London in the summer. I have lots of places I want to say ‘Goodbye' to in Ireland before I leave.
Tomorrow, St Patrick's Day, I'm off to Sligo.
Yeats country.
Sligo became very important to me over
Thoughts on Inspiration from Liz Gilbert & Amy Tan
Is inspiration divinely inspired? A brain blip? The byproduct or cause of mental disorder? A source of strength?
Does it come from within (the unconscious, the right brain) or without (God, a muse, your daimon)?
On Book Titles
I learned this morning, while reading the preface to Ayn Rand's Anthem, that its original title wasThe Ego. Apparently Rand always took