Simon Armitage,
The Motorway Service Station as a Destination in its Own Right
You are invited to the launch of Simon Armitage's new pamphlet, The Motorway Service Station as a Destination in its Own Right (Smith/Doorstop, 2010).
Bank Street Arts, 32-40 Bank Street, Sheffield S1 2DS (map)
Monday 8 March, 7:30pm
Tickets £5 (£3 concs)
To book tickets, email us at office@poetrybusiness.co.uk or call 0114 346 3037.
THE ENGLISH ASTRONAUT
He splashed down in rough seas off Spurn Point.
I watched through a coin-op telescope jammed
with a lollipop stick as a trawler fished him out
of the waves and ferried him back to Mission
Control on a trading estate near the Humber
Bridge. He spoke with a mild voice: yes, it was
good to be home; he’d missed his wife, the kids,
couldn’t wait for a shave and a hot bath. ‘Are
there any more questions?’ No, there were not.
I followed him in his Honda Accord to a Little
Chef on the A1, took the table opposite, watched
him order the all-day breakfast and a pot of tea.
‘You need to go outside to do that,’ said the
waitress when he lit a cigarette. He read the
paper, started the crossword, poked at the black
pudding with his fork. Then he stared through
the window for long unbroken minutes at a time,
but only at the busy road, never the sky. And his
face was not the moon. And his hands were not
the hands of a man who had held between finger
and thumb the blue planet, and lifted it up to his
watchmaker’s eye.
Sally Baker
Reading alongside Simon will be Sally Baker, whose latest pamphlet — The Sea and the Forest — has just been published by Smith/Doorstop. See more here.
The Sheffield Poetry Prize 2009
The winners of the 2009 Sheffield Poetry Prize — chosen by Andrew Motion — will also read their winning poems, and will be presented with their prizes.
The Sheffield Poetry Prize is sponsored by The University of Sheffield
The Poetry Business receives financial assistance from Arts Council England.
