Simon Armitage was born in 1963 in the village of Marsden and lives in West Yorkshire. He is a graduate of Portsmouth University, where he studied Geography. As a post-graduate student at Manchester University, his MA thesis concerned the effects of television violence on young offenders. Until 1994 he worked as a Probation Officer in Greater Manchester. Simon Armitage is the current national Poet Laureate of the UK (2019-2029).

In what ways does nature inspire or inform your work?

Nature is the illusive thing I’m trying to understand and describe using the man-made device called language.

What does it mean to you to be part of a thriving ecosystem?

The alarming aspect is recognising how over-important we’ve become in that system, how easily we can knock it off balance. If “thriving” means “harmonious,” as it should, then embarrassment is what I feel most of the time, in terms of my part in it.

Hooked Up To The Morphine Gun

In a poem written exclusively for Atmos, poet laureate Simon Armitage paints a portrait of collapse on an intimate scale.

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Simon Armitage

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