James Nash

All writers, and artists generally I should imagine, have times of what feels like low creativity. The urge to write dwindles and it feels as if you can no longer call yourself a poet. This happened to me during the writing of ‘A Bench for Billie Holiday’, about five or six years ago. I remember … Read more

I am lucky to have a variety of people to talk to, my partner David, many Leeds friends and my sister Judith to name just a few. The conversations can be had in cafés, on dog-walks by the sea, [see picture above] and sometimes with friends at the gym. This poem was written after a … Read more

I was lucky enough to be included in this small and perfectly formed Valentine  collection from the brilliant Candlestick Press.  They picked my sonnet ‘Punctuation’ from ‘A Bench for Billie Holiday’ [Valley Press, 2018] and along with poets like Elizabeth Barret Browning and newcomer William Shakespeare [very promising],  I’m in great company.

Last Friday I made one of my favourite journeys from Leeds to Bridlington. It is a fabulous train-ride where I marvel at the buildings and structures I see out the window, never feeling I want to read, always worried I might miss something. Selby Abbey, Wressle Castle, the Humber Bridge, Hull Paragon Station, Beverley Minster … Read more

I often find the transition from one year to the other slightly difficult to negotiate. The recognition of another year gone, and counting the losses of twelve months, recognising the approach of another birthday, all conspire to make me feel slightly uneasy. To be sure it is a symbolic gateway but a powerful one. Last … Read more

Earlier this week I found myself at the Leeds University Chaplaincy building for a lunchtime Quaker Meeting. It’s a meeting I often try to get to because it gives me thirty minutes of silence and thought in a hectic schedule. My own religious beliefs are not fixed or based on miraculous happenings; I tend to … Read more

Apollo the Greek god came with me to work in a primary school, the wonderful Ireland Wood Primary, this week. I went on the bus and I wish I could say that he did too, but he was so heavy, a very large plaster bust, that I had him delivered to the school the day … Read more

This weekend we were able to take in some early autumn sea air walking our puppy along the dunes at Wilsthorpe, just outside Bridlington. For me it was the last chance to catch my breath before some of my annual regular work tasks occupy a more central position in my life.   So this morning I … Read more

I don’t think a year goes by without me trying to write poems about spring and autumn, for me they are seasons that are constantly inspiring in their changes, they are frameworks to hang ideas upon, ideas about being human, about the beginnings and endings of our own lives. This poem was written at least … Read more