Poet Laureate wows them at Keswick

Carol Ann Duffy
Words by the Water, Keswick 
8 March 2013

POET Laureate Carol Ann Duffy read several of her poems to a packed house at Keswick's Theatre by the Lake.
And despite suffering from a cold she still managed to do so with a swagger which shows Duffy is very much at the top of her form.
The audience enjoyed a good giggle at poems from her 1999 anthology, The World's Wife which, appropriately for International Women's Day - looked at the wives of the world's more famous men.
There was humour and clever word play in many of her poems, The Counties demonstrated the rich heritage of county names which the post office has deemed unnecessary in this age of the post code. And there was a wry smile from Duffy when she reached the line claiming she wanted to write to the Queen at Berkshire in praise of Slough.
But there was also pathos with a reading of Last Post - honouring the death of World War I veterans Henry Allingham and Harry Patch. And a beautiful reading of Christmas Truce supported on stage by musician John Sampson. 
Mother's Day was just a couple of days' away and Duffy has acknowledged how her mother's death 'deafened' her to poetry for a couple of years. She read from Premonitions, the cathartic poem which - thank goodness - finally broke down the psychological walls stopping her writing poetry.
This was an entertaining, educational and inspirational night which topped off a week of events at the increasingly popular annual Words by the Water Festival.

- Alan Cleaver