David Morley
@profdavidmorley.bsky.social
Professor at Warwick Uni, Poet at Carcanet, Ted Hughes Award for The Invisible Gift, PBS Choice for FURY, Forward Prize finalist, Writer of The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing, Fellow Royal Society of Literature,Thought Fox.
Let the mind take its photograph
Of the bright scene, something to wear
Against the heart in the long cold.
from 'A Day in Autumn' by R.S. Thomas
Of the bright scene, something to wear
Against the heart in the long cold.
from 'A Day in Autumn' by R.S. Thomas
November 11, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Let the mind take its photograph
Of the bright scene, something to wear
Against the heart in the long cold.
from 'A Day in Autumn' by R.S. Thomas
Of the bright scene, something to wear
Against the heart in the long cold.
from 'A Day in Autumn' by R.S. Thomas
The jay's larder's ajar.
October 15, 2025 at 1:34 PM
The jay's larder's ajar.
Crab-apples spilled from the back of the lorry of autumn.
October 15, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Crab-apples spilled from the back of the lorry of autumn.
A Frostian moment in a Warwickshire forest.
October 15, 2025 at 1:19 PM
A Frostian moment in a Warwickshire forest.
Happy World Bird Migration Day
RINGING SWALLOWS
Swallows clip the lake for a sip of water,
or kerfuffle their feathers as they dip for a bathe.
They stipple ellipses across the surface like a skimming stone.
None skitter the water except by glitch or error
nor overwinter under its ice-barred door.
RINGING SWALLOWS
Swallows clip the lake for a sip of water,
or kerfuffle their feathers as they dip for a bathe.
They stipple ellipses across the surface like a skimming stone.
None skitter the water except by glitch or error
nor overwinter under its ice-barred door.
October 11, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Happy World Bird Migration Day
RINGING SWALLOWS
Swallows clip the lake for a sip of water,
or kerfuffle their feathers as they dip for a bathe.
They stipple ellipses across the surface like a skimming stone.
None skitter the water except by glitch or error
nor overwinter under its ice-barred door.
RINGING SWALLOWS
Swallows clip the lake for a sip of water,
or kerfuffle their feathers as they dip for a bathe.
They stipple ellipses across the surface like a skimming stone.
None skitter the water except by glitch or error
nor overwinter under its ice-barred door.
Wrapping up BBC Radio 4's The Verb with Sinead Morrissey and Ian McMillan. We stole a 5Live Studio. Happy National Poetry Day.
October 2, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Wrapping up BBC Radio 4's The Verb with Sinead Morrissey and Ian McMillan. We stole a 5Live Studio. Happy National Poetry Day.
Off to BBC Media City to record The Verb with Ian McMillan, Sinead Morrissey and Fiona Benson. Happy National Poetry Day!
October 2, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Off to BBC Media City to record The Verb with Ian McMillan, Sinead Morrissey and Fiona Benson. Happy National Poetry Day!
Then it's the kumquat fruit expresses best
how days have darkness round them like a rind,
life has a skin of death that keeps its zest.
'A Kumquat for John Keats'
Tony Harrison R.I.P.
how days have darkness round them like a rind,
life has a skin of death that keeps its zest.
'A Kumquat for John Keats'
Tony Harrison R.I.P.
September 28, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Then it's the kumquat fruit expresses best
how days have darkness round them like a rind,
life has a skin of death that keeps its zest.
'A Kumquat for John Keats'
Tony Harrison R.I.P.
how days have darkness round them like a rind,
life has a skin of death that keeps its zest.
'A Kumquat for John Keats'
Tony Harrison R.I.P.
Sometimes I need to remind myself.
August 28, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Sometimes I need to remind myself.
It is a privilege to see Passion acknowledged by @johnclegg37.bsky.social in the @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk this week. His choice of ‘The Shyness of the Crown’ as poem of the year (so far!) is genuinely appreciated. Thank you, John and @lrb.co.uk! www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/booklists/jo...
July 10, 2025 at 5:00 PM
It is a privilege to see Passion acknowledged by @johnclegg37.bsky.social in the @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk this week. His choice of ‘The Shyness of the Crown’ as poem of the year (so far!) is genuinely appreciated. Thank you, John and @lrb.co.uk! www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/booklists/jo...
Passion joins his new friend FURY @carcanet.bsky.social
June 18, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Passion joins his new friend FURY @carcanet.bsky.social
What if God were Salieri to Nature's Mozart?
May 30, 2025 at 9:53 AM
What if God were Salieri to Nature's Mozart?
I.M. Michael Longley
All the wild flowers of the Burren
to you: thyme, valerian, loosestrife,
Meadowsweet, tway blade, crowfoot, ling, angelica,
Herb robert, marjoram, cow parsley, sundew, vetch,
Mountain avens, wood sage, ragged robin, stitchwort,
Yarrow, lady’s bedstraw, bindweed, bog pimpernel.
All the wild flowers of the Burren
to you: thyme, valerian, loosestrife,
Meadowsweet, tway blade, crowfoot, ling, angelica,
Herb robert, marjoram, cow parsley, sundew, vetch,
Mountain avens, wood sage, ragged robin, stitchwort,
Yarrow, lady’s bedstraw, bindweed, bog pimpernel.
January 23, 2025 at 6:32 PM
I.M. Michael Longley
All the wild flowers of the Burren
to you: thyme, valerian, loosestrife,
Meadowsweet, tway blade, crowfoot, ling, angelica,
Herb robert, marjoram, cow parsley, sundew, vetch,
Mountain avens, wood sage, ragged robin, stitchwort,
Yarrow, lady’s bedstraw, bindweed, bog pimpernel.
All the wild flowers of the Burren
to you: thyme, valerian, loosestrife,
Meadowsweet, tway blade, crowfoot, ling, angelica,
Herb robert, marjoram, cow parsley, sundew, vetch,
Mountain avens, wood sage, ragged robin, stitchwort,
Yarrow, lady’s bedstraw, bindweed, bog pimpernel.
My pantoum in homage to ‘A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy's Day’ (13 Dec.) by John Donne
'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's…
'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's…
December 11, 2024 at 1:41 PM
My pantoum in homage to ‘A Nocturnal upon St. Lucy's Day’ (13 Dec.) by John Donne
'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's…
'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's…
It's such a relief, isn't it, that sky?
November 13, 2024 at 11:22 PM
It's such a relief, isn't it, that sky?