‘I think poetry should be controversial. It should be challenging, and make you see the world differently.’ (Carol Anne Duffy)
Two things struck me about the media coverage of Carol Anne Duffy appointment as the new Poet Laureate. First was the greater focus on her gender than her poetry and second, rather more favorably, her passion for education. It may have be a passing comment, but on the One Show interview, she mentioned her wish was for every school to be in touch with, have access to, a poet.
Purely coincidentally, later that week, our Headteacher shared a Hamble College student’s poem with me. Written by a young lady in Year 10, it was part of a presentation she was giving on the Dream Teams project. (I will first ask her permission, before posting here). Should / could all schools have a student post of ‘School Poet Laureate?’ I appreciate that even in a downscaled format, the sherry would have to be dispensed with, but why not? Would the Poetry Society consider promoting this venture with some of the donation they received from Carol Anne Duffy. Controversial? Well, I am taking my lead from our new Poet Laureate.
Sometimes you just don’t know it,
Reminds me, Rorschach inkblots.
The ideas is there within it,
But first, connect the dots.
In the meantime, the poetry needs work.