You’re beautiful because when you were born, undiscovered planets lined up to peep over the rim of your cradle and lay gifts of gravity and light at your miniature feet

As far as I can tell, there are two kinds of poets: those who want to tell stories and sing songs, and those who want to work out the chemical equation for language and pass on their experiments as poetry.

The Huddersfield that I like best is a large town with a big heart and an open mind.

I have to make myself write, sometimes. In the space between poems, you somehow forget how to do it, where to begin. It was good to be task - based for a while. I just came downstairs each day, picked the one I was going to do that day, and wrote.

The ordinary can be absolutely miraculous.

And wonder, dread and war have lingered in that land where loss and love in turn have held the upper hand.

This misfortune you find is of your own manufacture.