John Greening
John Greening is a poet, critic and editor who has spent much of his life teaching adults and young people — in Scotland, the USA, and Cambridgeshire. Two years as...
How I Write
The blank page can be unnerving to a novelist preparing for the day’s long trek, but it’s a wasteland that poets have comfortably colonised.
Letter To My Readers
Think of yourself as a baby dropped in a swimming pool. You won’t drown, and… may even find you’re enjoying the experience.
Why I Write
If you have to ask yourself why you write, then you probably shouldn’t be doing it. In my experience the best poems take both reader and author by surprise.
Letter To My Younger Self
True, your diaries tend to trail off around March after your birthday presents, but what about those days you sat pounding the old Underwood? ‘Crash, crash, crash’ was your opening line.
Life-changing Literature
Although the 8mm silent version of Milton’s epic never made it to a sheet of painted hardboard near you, I think I was onto something.
My Reading Habits
Those heaps of books in the living room left as if to mark my territory, with their scruffy bookmarks, torn up poetry drafts may, of course, be evidence of a project.
How Writing Changes The Writer
Writing poetry is about tuning in; language is the necessary crystal. Find the wavelength and everything connects with everything.
The Best Advice I Ever Received
Ted Hughes went on to stress how important it was to keep my creative energies at top pressure by living a bit uncomfortably, with a final dependence on writing.
Writers Who Inspire Me
There are poets I love but will hesitate to read if I am in the middle of writing a poem because I know their style is infectious.