Simon Armitage's New Cemetery audiobook released by Faber
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage narrates his own collection, New Cemetery, an audiobook from Faber. The poems, each named for a moth species, meditate on a new graveyard's creation and memories of his father.
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage's new audiobook, New Cemetery, is now available from Faber. The collection, which he narrates himself, runs for one hour and ten minutes.
The audiobook features Armitage reading poems rooted in his observations of a new cemetery being built on grazing land near his Huddersfield home during the Covid lockdown. In an introductory essay, the poet reportedly noted that the dead would be ideal neighbours for a writer who enjoys quiet, and that they were unlikely to be evicted for another development.
Meditations on Landscape and Memory
From his house, Armitage watched pastures transform into walkways, parking bays, and burial plots. This physical change coincided with the death of his father, a figure who appears in the verse. One poem recalls his father teaching him "the best way to hold an axe," correcting him with the line, "You're holding it all wrong / It's not a pen."
Other memories surface, such as his mother doing laundry, described as "manhandling shirts, / hauling drowning sailors / from sea to deck." His father is also remembered playing the "pantomime grinch" on Christmas Eve.
Structure and Narration
Every poem in the collection is titled after a species of moth and is written in three-line stanzas. The source lists examples including Common Quaker, Dark Brocade, Pine Beauty, and May Highflyer.
Armitage's narration is described as having a gentle lugubriousness. His delivery covers a range of reflections, from the changing landscape to the absurdities of a writer's life. One passage finds him "stationed in his shed, where he'll dither a while / poem-less under / trepanned tiles, stalled // in the anglepoise / of heaven / and desk."
Further Listening Recommendations
The source article includes brief reviews of other recent audiobooks. These are presented separately from the main review of Armitage's work.
| Title | Author | Publisher | Runtime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leaving Home | Mark Haddon | Vintage Digital | 5hr 8min |
| Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old | Mary Beard | Profile Audio | 5hr 38min |
The memoir Leaving Home is read by its author, Mark Haddon, and details his difficult childhood in 1970s Northampton. The lecture series Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old features classicist Mary Beard explaining the relevance of ancient Greeks and Romans.
The audiobook of New Cemetery is available for purchase and download.
