I once met the Poet Laureate,
attending the reading in a
city-centre library.
The inspirational figure
recited verse that moved
myself and the entire audience
to tears.
The poems he delivered
cast a spell over everyone
in the large room.
He seemed to capture
the beautiful ugliness
of life itself in words.
At the end of the recital
I joined the line of people
queuing to meet the
great man and to express
how much the poet
and his words meant to them.
I don\'t know if he was having a bad day.
or was feeling under the weather,
or had signed too many books that afternoon
but when I said I\'d really enjoyed the reading
and loved his work,
he told me to f*ck off.