Does a pamphlet count as a book? Well, given that I’ve read 17 of my 20 books and I’m well on course to finish the 20 and more, why not! However, I will bracket these two Faber signed limited edition pamphlets by Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, together as one!
Queenhood was written to celebrate Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee – seventy years on the throne. Told in seven stanzas, it takes us back to the monarch’s coronation, taking in all the pageantry, regalia and rituals associated with it, but also celebrates the progress of time in her 70 years on the throne and her growth as a woman. You can read the entire poem on the Royal Family website. I’ll share a couple of favourite quotes from it
III
So the emblems and signs of royalty are produced:
the gilded spurs; the blued steel sword – like a sliver
of deep space drawn from the scabbard of night –
to punish and protect; […]IV
And indestructible towers will atomise in a blink.
The God particle will be flushed from its hiding place.Civilisation will graft its collected thoughts
onto silicon wafers, laureates will pass through court . . .
But Taurus, the bull, on its heavenly tour,
will breach the same horizon at the given hour.
The Queen was born on April 21, so was just a Taurean, and the last line I’ve quoted line echoes her constancy measured against all those scientific milestones in peace and war.
There are some powerful images stirred up by this poem. A fitting tribute, done in typical Armitage style.
The Cryosphere was written in 2023 while Armitage was in Spitsbergen making a documentary series for BBC Radio 4. It comprises three poems, plus an introduction; 16 pages in total.
In the introduction, Armitage tells us about his trip to Ny-Ålesund – the most northerly settlement in the world, operated of the British Antarctic Survey team, via Longyearbyen on the way up and Tromsø on the way back, talking to scientists about their work on climate change. It was forty years since he’d studied Geography at Portsmouth Poly and the world has changed so much, prompting these poems.
The title poem describes arriving by boat and getting up close to the ice, “…the front face of the glacier rolled into view / a window onto a colour we couldn’t name.” “Here the forces of heat were shunting temples, pavilions and winter palaces into the flood.”
‘Birds of the Arctic’ explores the work of an environmental scientist whose analysis of dead birds shows the pollution that is happening, even in the Arctic. “When sliced open / the cormorant’s stomach dazzled / with sequins, glow sticks and fake opals.”
‘Polar Bear’ looks at the plight of these magnificent beasts. “Lumbering down to a gravel beach / he’s a nomad in vintage fur, the coat too heavy, too baggy, too hot / since the sun got stuck in the sky.”
I loved the imagery in these three poems, even though they are about climate change and global warming. Armitage’s choice of words is to the point yet perfect. I could imagine him reading them too.
These pamphlets were excellent – especially The Cryosphere. I’m very much of an Armitage fan, but I was surprised that I’ve not reviewed anything else of his output on the blog. They’re both sold out unfortunately, but you can get them on ebay if you’re prepared to pay a premium.
