Quotes from Simon Armitage

Who speaks well ... fights well,' goes the song; she'd wage war with her voice instead. 'To fight well, speak well,' Alfred said.

Through pity, then, I can't resist delivering a song of bliss when witnessing the painful trace that love leaves in a young girl's face. I try to teach them, through my song, love of that kind will not last long, because, just as my song relents, love rarely stays when it descends on children's hearts, but meets its death the way that warmth fades on our breath.

Occasionally it's been a long and bumpy road - one I'm still travelling - but I've always felt like my home town has been solidly behind me and I'm both grateful and proud.

I once stood in the middle of New York city watching my name go round the electronic zipper sign in Times Square and I felt pretty thrilled, but not quite as thrilled as I felt when I saw my name in the 'Examiner' for the first time.

And wonder, dread and war have lingered in that land where loss and love in turn have held the upper hand.

I even feel guilty if I'm reading a novel, because I think I should be reading Homer again. I don't really know what free time is, because I don't have something to measure it against.