I am slightly biased as he was one of my English lecturers at University and I really liked his lectures but I think Andrew Motion is pretty good.

Not a living poet! Larkin died in 1985.

Hahaha! Personally, I relate to the bit about drinking brandy!

I'm guessing not

Since Ted Hughes died, I don't think there is one. I find all the well known ones a bit pedestrian. Wish I could find someone I loved as much.

A vote from me, even if he looks anything but alive.

Why on earth should a thread about a favourite poet be in the Music section?

I also nominate John Cooper Clarke, but I enjoy his banter between the poems as much as the poems themselves. My only gripe was when he temporarily adopted the idea of making his poems like Ramones songs, rattling them off at machine-gun pace. He's far better when he pays more attention to the rhythm.

For anybody who's never heard of him, I recommend Evidently Chickentown as a good starting point, especially if you're still at school and trying to find something to read out aloud in class.

For me it was Seamus Heaney up until his recent death

Prob John Ashbery for the Americans, but I'll go for Geoffrey Hill.

this minute i'd go for tony harrison or simon armitage