I think poetry can help children deal with the other subjects on the curriculum by enabling them to see a subject in a new way.

Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.

I am always pleased to be asked to write a poem.

I think the dangers are different now. Our abuse of the planet and our resources is an anxiety.

You can find poetry in your everyday life, your memory, in what people say on the bus, in the news, or just what's in your heart.

I always say that I'll have a go and see whether the poem works and if it does, then fine.

I grew up in a bookless house - my parents didn't read poetry, so if I hadn't had the chance to experience it at school I'd never have experienced it. But I loved English, and I was very lucky in that I had inspirational English teachers, Miss Scriven and Mr. Walker, and they liked us to learn poems by heart, which I found I loved doing.