Carol Ann Duffy achieved a number of firsts yesterday. She became the first female, first openly gay, first mother and first Scottish Poet Laureate in the UK. Her books include Rapture, Feminine Gospels and The World's Wife.
The position comes with an annual stipend of £5,760 (which she'll be donating for a poetry prize), plus 650 free bottles of oloroso sherry. Regarding the sherry, Duffy noted "I’ve heard that Andrew Motion (former Poet Laureate) hasn’t had his yet, so I’ll be asking for mine up front.” The duties aren't difficult, but she will be expected to produce poems for royal events, such as weddings or funerals.
The following poem is from Rapture.
You
Uninvited, the thought of you stayed too late in my head,
so I went to bed, dreaming you hard, hard, woke with your name,
like tears, soft, salt, on my lips, the sound of its bright syllables
like a charm, like a spell.
Falling in love
is glamorous hell; the crouched, parched heart
like a tiger, ready to kill; a flame’s fierce licks under the skin
Into my life, larger than life, beautiful, you strolled in.
I hid in my ordinary days, in the long grass of routine,
in my camouflage rooms. You sprawled in my gaze,
staring back from anyone’s face, from the shape of a cloud,
from the pining, earth-struck moon which gapes at me
as I open the bedroom door. The curtains stir. There you are
on the bed, like a gift, like a touchable dream.
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