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The Verb this week is an extended conversation with the poet, editor, mentor, teacher and aphorist Don Paterson. Don Paterson first came to prominence in the early 90s, winning the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection for \\u2018Nil Nil\\u2019 in 1993. The following year he was selected as one of the Poetry Society\\u2019s \\u2018New Generation Poets\\u2019 alongside contemporaries such as Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Kathleen Jamie and his friend and mentor Michael Donaghy. He has published nine collections of poems, two of which have been awarded the TS Eliot Prize; God\\u2019s Gift to Women in 1997, and again in 2003 for Landing Light. He was awarded the Queen\\u2019s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010. He also teaches at the University of St Andrews and is the Poetry editor at Picador.

In a 45-minute conversation, Ian takes a forensic look at Don Paterson\\u2019s language map. They discuss the concept of the \\u2018true poem, the relationship between inspiration and spontaneity, where the impulse to write a poem comes from \\u2013 and when to give up on a poem.

We hear a close examination of poetic language as Don considers \\u2018the dance between vowels and consonants\\u2019, the weight of an ending, his love of an ellipsis. Don also explains why he dislikes poems set to music, and why you shouldn\\u2019t worry too much about your poetic voice\\u2026

Don Paterson\\u2019s latest publication is his book of New and Collected Aphorisms, \\u2018The Fall at Home\\u2019. This book, and all his collections of poetry are published by Faber.

Presenter: Ian McMillan\\nProducer: Cecile Wright