Look our for my poem, ‘La Santa, Lanzarote’ in the latest issue of Poetry Review: ‘The New Political Poetry’. And as if that weren’t reason enough to buy the issue, it also inculdes new work by John Burnside, David Harsent, John Kinsella and Ruth Padel.

There is a general consensus that a writer must have a blog, something I’ve wilfully resisted for as long as I can remember. Of course it makes sense, a writer writes and therefore a blog is a perfectly reasonable place to publish such writings. But the blog, as a form, feels so casual, almost throwaway, and reminds me of how I felt about journalism, and felt about the first and only news story, about an electrocuted squirrel, that I ever sold to The Scottish Sun. It was great the day it was published, but the next day, and the day after that, my squirrel story was just spent newsprint.

This is where, I feel, the internet poses a problem. It’s so easy to say something that it becomes difficult to say nothing at all. Whether poetry, fiction or journalism, I like words that last, leave an impression, and maybe even haunt you a little. So when I do write in this space, I’m making a commitment to myself to only do so when I have something to say.

In the mean time, please feel free to look around. You’ll find some of my poetry and short stories by following the links at the top of the page, as well as some information about me and where you can find my writing.