The World to me

Following on from previous blogposts on The Greatest Refreshment, Advent Calendar, and Three Heine Love Songs, I thought I would write a little about another piece of mine, The World to me.

Its text is the poem ‘World’ from Carol Ann Duffy‘s 2005 book Rapture, words I had actually wanted to set for a long time before I finally wrote the piece in 2017. I first came across the poem when Duffy was made Poet Laureate in 2009. I had never read any of her work when her appointment was announced, so was pleasantly surprised when I found, on a transatlantic flight, that Juliet Stevenson reading Rapture was among British Airways’ inflight entertainment choices. I was flying to the US for a week, away from home, and the poem resonated—and stayed—with me.

I made some initial sketches at the time but, as is sometimes the case, early ideas can remain just that, for years, before something more concrete finally forms. I hope you like the result: