The rocker of poetry

It's the latitude festival soon. Thanks M for pushing me to go despite my reluctance. But there is work to be done. I've been reliably advised that it's best to know some words to some of the songs of some of the bands before you get there. I know nothing. But hey, may do it the night before.

Tent is out of the loft now, smiling at me saying you will never remember how to use me. Wet wipes are piled up in the bathroom waiting for extenuating circumstances.

But all that is irrelevant. I will be there to see a so called star. last year it was Leonard Cohen. this year - and not quite as sexy but equally magical I hope - Simon Armitage. May even go up to him after performance and mumble something really inventive like 'I love your work'. And he may even growl disapprovingly at another philistine fan. Who cares. He is a true rocker of poetry.
two of my faves:

Hydra

At the jungle research station in Manaus, they keep
a brown electric eel in a dishwater-coloured goit,
that looked to me, when it was pointed out, more like
a dead palm-leaf, or, side-on, a length of gutter pipe.

But as I said to the man who was showing us round,
dingy or not, you have to take your hat off to a beast
that keeps itself to itself for the most part, but when touched
transforms a single thought into several thousand volts.

Simon Armitage

My party piece:
I strike, then from the moment when the matchstick
conjures up its light, to when the brightness moves
beyond its means, and dies, I say the story
of my life -

dates and places, torches I carried,
a cast of names and faces, those
who showed me love, or came close,
the changes I made, the lessons I learnt -

then somehow still find time to stall and blush
before I'm bitten by the flame, and burnt.

A warning, though, to anyone nursing
an ounce of sadness, anyone alone:
don't try this on your own; it's dangerous,
madness.

Simon Armitage

others are Zoom and Not the furniture game. All very dour I've just realised. But the way he writes is so vibrant, it makes it feel much more upbeat to me.