On ruthless revision — and the one thing in a poem that must never move. A deep limestone cave chamber inside a British gorge, reminiscent of Cheddar Gorge You can revise a poem to death. I know, because I have done it. Not once. The usual advice is to be ruthless: kill your darlings, cut anything that isn't working. And there is real sense in that. Most first drafts are too long, too pleased with themselves, and carrying at least one line the writer loves for reasons that ha

Kirkstone Pass, from Cumbria In Verse – Lakes To Fells In Poetry An illustrated image of a dramatic single-lane mountain road climbing a steep one-in-four gradient through the Lake District fells, Kirkstone Pass, Cumbria. The gradient tightens to a one-in-four strain where the road binds the volcanic flank. Gravity drags the scree in a slow descent toward the valley floor, scoured by ice. At the saddle, the world contracts to a line. Dry-stone walls brace against the heavy fe