An Audience with Simon Armitage, Ambleside

22nd August, Daffodil Hotel

The UK’s Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage has, apparently, been giving readings hosted by Wordsworth, Grasmere for at least two decades and the occasions are always a sell-out. As the man himself said to the audience, “I think some of you have been coming to my readings even longer than I have!”

This was indicative of the surprising humour we were treated to throughout the two hours. Even where the subject of the poems was more serious or dark, this poet’s gentle voice between readings was always light and entertaining.

In theory, Simon Armitage shouldn’t be interesting to listen to at all. He is quietly spoken, has a strong northern accent (nothing wrong with that but it doesn’t exactly shout Gielgud at you) and gives every impression of being an introvert. You don’t melt at the sound of his voice like you might with a Sean Connery. He doesn’t cut an impressive figure as he comes through the door (he arrived just after me and I thought he was someone coming to see the poet!). He doesn’t read his poems with a deep passion that moves you to tears.

Instead, you get someone who is gentle but knows his audience. He tells simple anecdotes which often are self-effacing and always funny. Like his poems, the man seems very down to earth. The kind of person who you would enjoy an evening in a pub with, sinking a few pints, telling personal reminiscences. It is very strange to think that this is the monarch’s poet, the man tasked with writing poems for important events for the nation. He has no airs and graces about him. His body language says anything except ‘don’t you know I have lunch with the King?!’ If you met him as a stranger in the pub and he told you his role, you would accuse him of pulling your leg and laugh in his face. It is this that makes him just so likeable.

*Entirely independently, my daughter also adores Armitage – so she was the obvious choice for companion for the evening.*

The result was a truly wonderful evening as he read from at least two of his books including his latest, Never Good with Horses. From song lyrics to flash fiction/prose poetry fusion to rhyme, we roamed his hometown together, explored the world of birds and took a trip with him to arctic worlds. It was all as fascinating as it was entertaining.

I queued to have a book signed and I’m sure I blurted out utter gibberish as you do when you’re impressed by someone and feeling that schoolboy giddiness. But I meant to tell him “I teach English and, traditionally, hate poetry. But I’ve learned to love it and teach my students how to love it too. I can do that because of poets like you. Your poems are my go-to choices for instilling a love of poetry in young minds. Thank you for that.” It probably came out as a mumbled “I hate poetry, thanks for that” but there you go.

*There he is signing my book. Mine. Not yours, right.*

I’m not normally one for adolescent shyness when meeting famous people. Usually, I couldn’t care less who they are – people are just people. But in this case, despite already knowing some of his works very well, I was converted all over again by hearing him read. Armitage’s choice of words, his phrasing and his subject matter is so, so well crafted that it is both inspirational (you want to go off and write poetry yourself) and intimidating (you wouldn’t dare lift a pen to paper because you know it’ll be rubbish by comparison). This is quite some paradox to experience, believe me. The awe was stultifying.

So instead, I pacify myself with just reading more of his poetry, finding even more gems like Mother, Any Distance and Remains, both used for GCSE English students with good reason. While Armitage’s poetry is great for any reader, he is a wonderful gateway writer. Because of the likes of him (and Carol Ann Duffy and Imtiaz Dharker and a few others) likes of me are able to turn minds from seeing poetry as boring and incomprehensible to fascinating and relevant to us all. For that, I will always be grateful.

Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.

Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.

D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.

Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.

Get a free trial and 20% off Shortform by clicking here. Shortform is a brilliant tool and comes with my highest recommendation.

One response to “An Audience with Simon Armitage, Ambleside”

Book Review: Never Good with Horses by Simon Armitage – Write Out Loud

September 10, 2023

[…] just attended a reading by Simon Armitage in Grasmere, I immediately bought the main book from which he was reading – Never Good with Horses. […]

LikeLike

Write Out Loud (Reviews and Writing)