I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the way place and writing work so was glad to get asked to blog about my work in that context, both in the sense of the work I do in the community and educational settings, often with my fellow poet and compadre in Ek Zuban Literature development Bob Beagrie, and in my own creative work which is heavily influenced by my locale here near the iron drained Cleveland hills and by the travels I’ve been able to make because of my poetry; most intensely in recent years to Finland which gives you a different means of looking at home. Beyond considering the way place can mutate and split open your discourse, its interesting to draw on the kind of projects I work on with groups at the edge of society – in the last twelve months I’ve worked with refugees and asylum seekers, recovering addicts, substance abusers, young offenders, kids in care, young people in danger of sexual exploitation on the streets, young carers and young people in danger of exclusion and offending  – which prompts me often to consider how place can dictate your boundaries and your way of communicating to a large extent - how it can in fact help to tie your tongue and restrict your possibilities.