That's one of the great things about poetry; one realises that one does one's little turn - that you're just part of the great crop, as it were.

On the other hand, at some level the mass of unresolved issues in Northern Ireland does influence the fact that there are so many good writers in the place.

Obviously one of the things that poets from Northern Ireland and beyond - had to try to make sense of was what was happening on a day-to-day political level.

I certainly am interested in accessibility, clarity, and immediacy.

Frost isn’t exactly despised but not enough people have worked out what a brilliant poet he was.

For whatever reason, people, including very well-educated people or people otherwise interested in reading, do not read poetry

Living at that pitch, on that edge, is something which many poets engage in to some extent.