A new Poet Laureate who happens to be a female and gay...times they surely are a’changin’. However it’s a mark of the mindset of our media that this particular job situation will get so much airtime. Ordinarily a new face in this job would get two seconds in the news, a mention on page 8 of The Times and then quietly fade into the media hinterlands, only to be wheeled out for the hatches, matches and despatches of the Royals.
However, the sexual leanings of this individual make her much more interesting to the salacious members of the press. A woman! First lesbian in the role! Grow up. Who cares if she’s a scissor sister, she’s an excellent poet; arguably the finest in her generation. And if it means poetry gets more attention, more people read it or write it, or godforbid buy it, then that can only be a good thing. But I’m realistic enough to realise that this increased profile will only be temporary before we all go back to wondering about what Peter and Jordan did next...
Apparently she's said she won't do royal hatches, matches etc. She said nobody should be asked to write a poem about Edward & Sophie. You gotta love her.
ReplyDeleteA damn fine poet, hear hear! A worthy holder of this (anachronistic tho it may be) post. Hopefully, she will shout loud about poetry. She's a gutsy lady. But why oh why do the media make an issue of her sexualilty? She's a poet. What she does in bed is totally irrelevant. Grrrrrrrr!
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