Sharon Olds - Regarded by many as America’s greatest living poet - was in Suffolk in August to take part in the 7th Poetry Prom at Snape Maltings Concert Hall. We had lots of questions and she provided some surprising answers, from how a poem can begin with a bruise on her foot to the moment she realised what it felt like to be a woman in the world. Order your FREE copy of The Poetry Paper.

In this new feature we ask Cahal Dallat, Maureen Duffy, David Morley, Pascale Petit & Roger Robinson which poems journey with them from cradle to grave. Find out which poem David Morley would use for seduction purposes and which poem Roger Robinson would put in the Blue Peter garden time capsule by ordering your FREE copy of The Poetry Paper 

The first poem by Valerio Magrelli that I read, some dozen years ago, was ‘L’abbraccio’ (‘The Embrace’). My immediate response was such a turbulent mixture of recognition, awe and envy that the only way I could still the chaos was to see if I could write it in English….
...read Jamie McKendrick’s full article by ordering your FREE copy of The Poetry Paper.

Where else could you find an in-depth interview with Sharon Olds, Alan Brownjohn revealing the truth about Ludbrooke, Pascale Petit on ‘Confessing the Amazon and Frida Kahlo’, Jamie McKendrick ‘listening in’ as a translator and Annie Freud’s Poet’s Notebook? Or Poets’ CVs from Richard Price and Kate Fox? Not to mention Cahal Dallat, Maureen Duffy, David Morley and Roger Robinson on their ‘cradle to grave’ poems. Plus new poems by Albert Goldbarth, Philip Levine and Tom Paulin. And even a whole page on what poetry sounds like… All enhanced by commissioned illustrator Peter Blegvad with all his trademark surreal vision and wit. Did we mention that The Poetry Paper is completely free? Well, it’s free!