Armstrong began to publish his poetry in the late 1970s, contributing to magazines and to
Ten North-East Poets,
The Firebox. Poetry in Britain and Ireland after 1945, and
Last Words: New Poetry for the New Century, and other collections. He won an
Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 1984. His first volume of poetry,
Risings, appeared in 1988; three others have followed. Armstrong is one of the editors of the Newcastle-based magazine
Other Poetry, which was revived in 1995 and appears three times a year. He also belongs to the Northern Poets' Workshop. His work is marked by preoccupations with religion and the landscape – of his native North-East, but also of the Hebrides and of a notional America drawn from
road movies and cigarette advertising. His verse has been influenced more recently by his work as a cognitive therapist. ==Bibliography==