'There is no God,' the wicked saith, 'and truly it's a blessing, for what he might have done with us it's better only guessing.? - Arthur Hugh Clough 'There Is No God'

Strands of autobiography, a deeply sensuous ecology of place, historical narratives; the inner world of imagination and the often difficult realities of the postcolonial nation are interwoven in McWatt's bold but carefully worked out architecture. Peepal Tree

'Francis shows us how exactingly language is a form of attention and how poetry can hold our attention in spectacular ways'. The Guardian

Adventurous, compelling and utterly original - The Times

It was no dream: I lay broad waking. Thomas Wyatt 'They Flee From Me'

She is all States, and all princes I, / Nothing else is. John Donne

"If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad." Lord Byron

As activities, writing poetry and climbing have few connections, apart from a heightened sense of being and awareness, of being fully engaged. Andrew Greig

We've all led raucous lives,/ some of them inside, some of them out./ But only the poem you leave behind is what's important. Charles Wright (from 'Littlefoot')

Man, you call yourself a poet and you don't know chickadees? Amy Clampitt

The furthest distances I've travelled/ have been those between people. Leontia Flynn

Form is a straitjacket in the way that a straitjacket was a straitjacket for Houdini. Paul Muldoon.