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

A poem might be defined as thinking about feelings - about human feelings and frailties.

I remain loyal to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert in music and to Shakespeare and Jane Austen in literature.

There comes a time when you have to trust your own judgment, when you must close your eyes and let your instinct rule you.

When everything is for 'fun' nothing is for the good.

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.

I'm not really quiet or shy. Ask any of my friends! But I always ground my poetry in life itself. Poetry is an art of language, though, so I am always aware of every word's meaning, or multiple meanings.