Five years ago, when I was ready to take my poetry to a new level, Geoffrey threw a lifeline. Since then, I’ve become something of a regular, for both the Saturday poem-generating sessions and the six-week workshops. Throughout, Geoffrey has been the best kind of supporter and critical reader. He is unfailingly sympathetic, yet also shines a light forward. His sessions are demanding, inventive, exhausting, and fun. They bring together an eclectic group of writers, young and old, novice and highly experienced. Geoffrey leads the sessions  armed with a deep familiarity with English-language poetry as well as the classics, philosophy, avant-garde film, the visual arts, and Japanese writing and culture. Under his tutelage I’ve grown as a poet – and also as a person.