Blake has always been a favorite, the lyrics, not so much the prophetic books, but I suppose Yeats influenced me more as a young poet, and the American, Robert Frost.

Each word bears its weight, so you have to read my poems quite slowly.

Peter Lucas and I live in Durham but spend a great of time in North Wales, where we have a cottage in the mountains, and in Vermont, USA, with my sister - who is a children's writer married to a poet.

There's no friend like someone who has known you since you were five.

Yes, I do often write poems from the mind, but I hope I don't ignore feelings and emotions.

Blackbirds are the cellos of the deep farms.

I don't like poetry that just slaps violent words on a canvas, as it were.