Auden said poetry makes nothing happen. But I wonder if the opposite could be true. It could make something happen.
Carol Ann DuffyChristmas is taken very seriously in this household. I believe in Father Christmas and there's no way I'd do anything to undermine that belief.
Carol Ann DuffyShe stood upon a continent of ice, which sparkled between sea and sky, endless and dazzling, as though the world kept all its treasure there; a scale which balanced poetry and prayer.
Carol Ann DuffyWhere I lived - winter and hard earth.I sat in my cold stone roomchoosing tough words, granite, flint,to break the ice. My broken heart -I tried that, but it skimmed,flat, over the frozen lake.She came from a long, long way,but I saw her at last, walking,my daughter, my girl, across the fields,In bare feet, bringing all spring's flowersto her mother's house. I swearthe air softened and warmed as she moved,the blue sky smiling, none too soon,with the small shy mouth of a new moon.
Carol Ann Duffy