I don't want my poems to be sentimental, though I do acknowledge that sentiment is probably rather under-reported in a lot of people's feelings a lot of the time.

I read ' Treasure Island' for the first time at university. And I started to notice then how unresolved some things were. Later, I realised that Stevenson was interested in sequels, and I wondered whether he would have gone back to it had he lived longer.

But Wordsworth is the poet I admire above all others.

I don't want my poems to be sentimental, though I do acknowledge that sentiment is probably rather under-reported in a lot of people's feelings a lot of the time.

Like a lot of people, for a long time I thought that the road to hell is paved with bad sequels.

But I can't and don't ever want to write bell-yanking confetti-tossing hat-throwing poems.

I get up at 5.30am, sluice myself and have two Weetabix and some mint tea, before starting to write by 6am.