I realised I'd spent a lot of time in my poetry trying to find a way of talking about that whereof we cannot speak. John Burnside findlotpoetry Change image and share on social
You can't sit down and decide what you want to write about. John Burnside decidesitwrite Change image and share on social
I don't like the term 'mental illness.' I'd rather just say 'mad.' Just like I always say 'loony bin,' not 'mental hospital.' John Burnside binhospitalillness Change image and share on social
Given the right information to help them decide, people will opt for conditions that benefit our creaturely neighbours, even where they have no particular interest in larks or cuckoo wasps - because those conditions benefit us. John Burnside benefitconditioncreaturely share on social
If nature offers no home, then we must make a home one way or another. The only question is how. John Burnside homemakenature Change image and share on social
Thatcherite economic policy was most acutely felt in the coal industry, where tens of thousands of jobs were lost as pits were shut down. John Burnside acutelycoaleconomic Change image and share on social
A man was defined, in my father's circles, by what he could bear, the pain he could shrug off, the warmth or comfort he could deny himself. John Burnside bearcirclecomfort Change image and share on social
For the Yupik, all life was continuous, animal with human with 'spirit', and recognising that continuum allowed them to undergo transformations that we, locked into our own disappointingly Cartesian skins, find impossible even to imagine. John Burnside allowanimalcartesian share on social
A forest - the word dates back to the Norman occupancy, when it meant an area set aside for England's violent new masters to hunt boar and deer - is necessarily larger than a wood. It belonged to the king and was a fit place for his recreation. John Burnside areabackbelong share on social
The son of a Fife mining town sledder of coal-bings, bottle-forager, and picture-house troglodyte, I was decidedly urban and knew little about native fauna, other than the handful of birds I saw on trips to the beach or Sunday walks. John Burnside beachbingbird share on social
