In all regions of the UK, the appointed role of Poet Laureate are all held by women. In Northern Ireland it is Sinead Morrissey, Scotland Liz Lochhead, Wales Gillian Clarke and of course, the UK’s Laureate is Carol Ann Duffy. Duffy is the first woman to gain this title after almost 400 years of its instatement. The London Laureates for the past three years have been women and Kate Tempest is one of the most successful poets of all time. Even in the realm of performance poetry, women seem to be much more successful at having their voice heard so why is it still all about men? We asked Lydia Towsey and Hollie Poetry for their insights:

Lydia –

Considering that the poet laureates for all regions of the UK are female and Selina Nwulu has just been made London’s Young Poet Laureate, why do you think the BBC focused on predominately male poets on National…

Bludgeoned Cradle

Down in the depths of rumbling waters,
A child-soul crawls this way and that.
It seeks its mother and its siblings,
And its father, if he is still there.

Enclosed in the gruelish murky darkness
A frantic fear grips its fragile heart.
Anguished tears never find its way down
For the chubby drawn cheeks are caressed by waters.

Up in the world of so-called men,
Men convene to decide child’s fate.
They chatter and banter over sumptuous menu,
Besides paychecks made out in child’s blood.

All the while, walls climb higher,
Strengthened with spikes that wring out child’s blood.
And fencing off child in its dreadful ordeal.
Its body yet, a target for gas and angry bludgeon.

And all the while, men convene, in endless impunity.
While child succumbs to the watery barricade.

“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War

And they knew one green apple could poison the others,
how western eyes would gawp from Sangin’s sky
and eyes of their brothers would judge them from mountains.
~
And they knew when songbirds broke beaks upon the water
that all the virgins would be ruined in a village
so they shot them for food and sang of their nests.
~
And they knew from the map of a hen’s bloodied throat
that all the eggs would be covered in dust
so they left them on rocks for concaved dogs.
~
And when the drones came, flowers closed their mouths
a throbbing blister sutured the days remains and
war bled sky for a silent boy.

To Europe

The children of Syria
Are dead off Zuwara
Freedom where I live
Is becoming forgotten:
Walls heightening
Humanity drive out
And racist rhetoric in.
I looked across the oceans
And saw this little girl
In the polka dot dress
Washed up on the shore
I looked across the oceans
And saw this little boy still
In nappies so like my son:
Drowned there his body
Given up to the waves.
Europe, open the borders
The children of Syria
Are dead off Zuwara.
Europe, open the borders.

Bereft

I am ripples, motionless,
swamped by water, lifted by brother.
I am girl watching home wash
away again, again
Do you have a boat?
You are of no use to me.

I hover over flood
my only loves, our goat,
the bracelets of my grandmother,
now treasure of the force of nature.
I am homeless in the smoke-grey
of a greedy monsoon, dripping disaster.
Bring a boat.

I do not know the whereabouts of the rest.

It is a fine and wonderful thing that, thanks to the Forward Arts Foundation, we now celebrate National Poetry Day. When I was teaching, I made full use of all the poster poems, postcards, teaching materials and websites which are available. I would encourage colleagues to include poetry in their lessons that day, and a wide range of departments would oblige. Everyone in the English department would do a poetry lesson. I would plan and give resources for the Key stage 3 one. I would run an annual competition (which I believe is still going) using the same theme, resulting in a school Poet Laureate. This fed into the Wirral Young Poet Laureate (which was started later), and the very first one was Holly Green, who won our school competition. She went on to read with Carol Ann Duffy – whose generous support of poet laureates everywhere is notable.
As…