Local lad and restraining order waiting to happen (such is my obsession) Simon Armitage became the Poet Laureate late last year. In between writing poems for the Queen and the Sunday papers, he somehow found time to record a new record. Not with his former band, The Scaremongers, but with a new collective called LYR. (Apparently it stands for Land Yacht Regatta, so nothing to do with lyrics at all. That'll teach me to try to second-guess the Poet Laureate.)
An addictive set of story poems set to musical backing, full of northern humour and incisive lyrical detail, they've been a firm favourite at Top Ten Towers these past few months.
If this had been anything like a normal year you could have been excused for contacting him on behalf of the kids in the classes you teach, asking him to come in for a visit. Looks as if it'll have to be the recorded version of himself for a while yet.
ReplyDeleteIt's the poetry module coming up next for the 1st Years on my course. I'm sure they will really enjoy it, as we all did. Hopefully they'll cover some Simon Armitage.