As parents, we're supposed to remember the first time we did stuff with our kids, but the last time is equally as significant, if not more. This poem is from Whatever You Do, Just Don't (HappenStance Press, 2023), my second full collection...

Anyone heading back to their home town for Christmas...?!

What's it like to return to your home town years after leaving? This poem from Whatever You Do, Just Don't finds that nothing's changed. But then everything's changed too...

That last line... 💔 Beautiful poem. Thank you for sharing.

Anyone heading back to their home town for Christmas...?!

Love this one, Matthew! And yes, my husband and I have "our numbers" -- when we met in our 20s we discovered the last 4 digits of our respective childhood phone numbers had been the same -- and they still tend to pop up in various places...

Certain numbers accompany us through our lives, connected to our memories of people and places, of significant events. What numbers remain with you decades later? And why? This poem is taken from Whatever You Do, Just Don't (HappenStance Press, 2023), my second full collection...

Let's have a blast from the past! This was one of the most popular poems in my first full collection, The Knives of Villalejo. By the way, I throw a copy of The Knives of Villalejo in for free when you purchase Whatever You Do, Just Don't...!

The emotional significance of objects sends ripples through our lives, which is why this is often my final poem when I give a reading. It's taken from my second full collection, Whatever You Don't, Just Don't. If you fancy a signed copy, drop me a DM and I'll sort one out for you...

Libraries are transformative. In fact, Farnham Library saved me. Kept me afloat when I was being bullied at South Farnham Middle School in the 1980s. This poem from Whatever You Do, Just Don't is my homage to it...

Poetic truth rather than factual truth.

Poetic truth rather than factual truth.

Faction (n). A blend of fact and fiction that transforms anecdote into craft and then art.

Faction (n). A blend of fact and fiction that transforms anecdote into craft and then art.

Here's a video of me reading The Last Carry, now up on my YouTube channel... youtube.com/shorts/W3oTH...

Margaret Hodge's review of Arts Council England is well worth a read... 1/2 www.gov.uk/government/p...

The key question is what all this might mean for NPOs...

The bit that's especially interesting for poetry publishers is Section 5. Here's a quote: ACE can still deliver its strategy, but based on the strength of the contribution of individual organisations, rather than on their ability to tick all the boxes required by the current application process.

Margaret Hodge's review of Arts Council England is well worth a read... 1/2 www.gov.uk/government/p...

Really looking forward to having a new poem in the Spring issue of Poetry London...

Poetry as an anchor for the poet. To places. To moments. To people. Poetry that then implicitly reveals ia reader's anchors. That casts those anchors in a different imaginative light. That layers them with fresh nuances. That renews them in the reader's heart and mind.

Really looking forward to having a new poem in the Spring issue of Poetry London...

This is a poem of loss, taken from Whatever You Do, Just Don't (HappenStance Press, 2023)...

I now gather this has garnered over 22,000 views so far on FB. Who said there isn't a latent readership for poetry...?!

Really grateful to the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies, who've shared this poem today on their FB page...

I now gather this has garnered over 22,000 views so far on FB. Who said there isn't a latent readership for poetry...?!

Scenes from my other life... www.noticiasdelvino.com/entrevistas/...

Anyone who follows Matthew will have seen some delights here from this collection. Perhaps the most unexpected aspect though is the series of poems about individual named players from Aldershot FC in the 1980s. An unlikely subject matter, these diverse little poems comment, celebrate and enchant.

Scenes from my other life... www.noticiasdelvino.com/entrevistas/...

The path to readers is a solitary uphill trudge, lit up every now and then by unexpected conversations with terrific people you encounter on the way.

The path to readers is a solitary uphill trudge, lit up every now and then by unexpected conversations with terrific people you encounter on the way.

Really grateful to the Irish Centre for Poetry Studies, who've shared this poem today on their FB page...

Matthew Paul reviews 'Summers Are Other' by Andrew Neilson (Rack Press, 2025) open.substack.com/pub/thefrida...

This reminds me. My daughter is 11 and it's a long time since she held my hand while we walk - and fair enough, of course. But last Winter, as we walked to school, it was so icy she grabbed my hand and held it for the whole journey, and it was lovely.

Richard Hoyes, sadly missed, my English teacher at Farnham College, in later years my friend. The first person to back my writing. The reason why I'm a poet today...

A perfect gift for the poetry lover in your life this Christmas. Or for your lover who mistakenly thinks poetry's not for them! Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy...!

Copy by copy, every hard-earned sale of a poetry collection is an act of trust, a contract between the poet and the reader that reaches far beyond cash. This is why I refuse to shy away from reminding you about Whatever You Do, Just Don't. Drop me a DM and I'll sort out your signed copy for you...

Perhaps my favorite thing about putting work out into the world: it’s no longer “mine.” It’s whatever a reader needs it to be to them, and the fact that that can change amongst other readers makes me so happy.

Poets, if they're lucky, end up having signature poems. But they don't choose them for themselves. Instead, certain poems take on lives of their own once they're published. The Last Carry is one such example. When I first posted it here, I didn't have a clue it would reach so many people...

If readers are thriving and publishing is booming, why does contemporary literature feel so flat? A guest essay by Elias Grove of @faunbymoonlight.bsky.social themadridreview.com/f/the-publis... #publishing #magazines #litmag #contemporary #opinion

I agree - this is a very good book of poetry! Get it direct from the author!

Rogue Strands reflects on the process of getting to know your collection better after its publication... roguestrands.blogspot.com/2025/12/gett...

The seemingly fallow period that follows publication is, in my view, a necessary pause, a pause that may be filled by the satisfaction of engaging with readers.

The seemingly fallow period that follows publication is, in my view, a necessary pause, a pause that may be filled by the satisfaction of engaging with readers.

Rogue Strands reflects on the process of getting to know your collection better after its publication... roguestrands.blogspot.com/2025/12/gett...

My personal experience of selling poetry collections in the current climate... roguestrands.blogspot.com/2025/12/my-p...

If you're up for a copy, just drop me a DM and I'll sort one out for you (U.K., Ireland, mainland Europe, Canada and Oceania)...

I only want a single pair of hands to stretch my spine and open me at last...

Octosyllabic lines here, playing with the stresses of trochees, iambs, anapests and dactyls, all lying just below the surface...

My personal experience of selling poetry collections in the current climate... roguestrands.blogspot.com/2025/12/my-p...