Today on My Poetic Side we look at the Prime Minister who attributed poetry incorrectly, the winner of the Wales Book of the Year award and finally the poet who appeared in a Google Duo advert.

Prime Minister Trolled by Twitterati

It is becoming increasingly more common for poetry to make an appearance in the field of politics, with politicians all over the world turning to the poets to help them get their message across. Of course, it helps when using the words of a famous poet if you attribute them correctly as Imran Khan the Prime Minister of Pakistan found out at the end of last week.

Khan shared the following inspirational quote

He then attributed it to Khalil Gibran the Lebanese-American poet. Unfortunately for The Prime Minister the quote in question actually comes from the work of Rabindranath Tagore the Nobel laureate and Indian poet.

The comments were made in a Tweet which gained 23,000 likes, over 2000 comments and was retweeted over 5000 times. Many Twitter users took to the site to tease Khan for his mistake with several individuals suggesting he should check facts before he posts.

This isn’t the first time that Khan has made the headlines in the most recent months due to a lack of knowledge. In April, he visited Iran and was quoted as saying that Japan and Germany shared borders.

Ailbhe Darcy Wins This Year’s Wales Book of the Year

The poet, Ailbhe Darcy, who is based in Cardiff, has been named as the winner of the 2019 Wales Book of the Year Prize for her collection of poetry named ‘Insistence’.

The award ceremony took place at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre where Darcy was also awarded the Roland Mathias Poetry Award.

Her collection of poetry has already been awarded the Pigott Poetry Prize and places on the shortlist of another two prizes.

Darcy lectures in Creative writing at the University of Cardiff. Her poems explore the feelings she has about raising a child in an environment of racial, economic and environmental separation. Insistence is based on the six years that the poet spent living in the United States with her family in a post-industrial city.

Poet Narrates Google Duo Advert

Google’s Duo is its most popular consumer-facing social app. There have been several ads for the app over the years but the latest one which saw its debit on Sunday is a little different.

The Ad which lasts just a minute features narration by the late Dr Maya Angelou. It begins with the icon for the app set against a white background, Angelou appears on-screen with a monologue of “Love Liberates.”

The whole passage was not used in order to make the advert more concise. During the speaking Duo can be seen on all kinds of mobile devices

Angelou makes a final appearance at the end of the advert with

It is believed the video was made with clips taken from a 2010 episode of Oprah on which the poet appeared.