Editing Simon Armitage (section)

=== Writing as Poet Laureate ===

In 2019 Armitage's first poem as [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]], "Conquistadors", commemorating the [[Apollo 11|1969 Moon landing]], was published in ''[[The Guardian]]''.<ref name=flood-moon>{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jul/27/moon-landing-poem-launches-simon-armitage-as-poet-laureate |title=Moon landing poem launches Simon Armitage as poet laureate| last=Flood |first=Alison |date=27 July 2019| work=The Guardian |access-date=2 August 2019 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="conquistadors">{{cite web |last1=Armitage |first1=Simon |title=Conquistadors |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Conquistadors.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=27 September 2019}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref>
Armitage's second poem as Poet Laureate, "Finishing it", was commissioned in 2019 by the [[Institute of Cancer Research]]. [[Graham Short]] ,a micro-engraver, meticulously carved the entire 51-word poem clearly onto a facsimile of a cancer treatment tablet.<ref name="glynn">{{cite web |last1=Glynn |first1=Paul |title=Simon Armitage pens poem on cancer pill |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/49341002 |work=BBC News |access-date=27 September 2019 |date=14 August 2019}}</ref><ref name="finishing-it">{{cite web |last1=Armitage |first1=Simon |title=Finishing It |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/ICR-Finishing-It-Poem-Photo-copytouse.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=27 September 2019}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> Armitage wrote "All Right" as part of [[Northern (train operating company)|Northern]] train operator's suicide prevention campaign for Mental Health Awareness Week. Their video has a soundtrack of the poem being read by [[Mark Addy]], while the words also appear on screen.<ref name="northern">{{cite news |title=Northern's new suicide prevention campaign asks the people of Manchester: "All Right?" |url=https://media.northernrailway.co.uk/news/northern-new-suicide-prevention-campaign-asks-the-people-of-manchester-all-right |access-date=27 September 2019 |publisher=Northern Railway |date=15 May 2019}} ''Includes video of the poem''</ref> On 21 September 2019 he read his poem "Fugitives", commissioned by the Association of [[Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty|Areas of Natural Beauty]], on [[Arnside Knott]], Cumbria, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the [[National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949|National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act]], during an event which included the formation of a heart outlined by people on the hillside.<ref name="aonb-fugitives">{{cite web |title=Celebrating our special landscapes |url=https://www.arnsidesilverdaleaonb.org.uk/celebrating-special-landscapes/ |publisher=Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty |access-date=27 September 2019 |date=23 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="ecologist">{{cite news |title=Poem commissioned to celebrate national parks |url=https://theecologist.org/2019/sep/25/poem-commissioned-celebrate-national-parks |work=Ecologist |date=25 September 2019| access-date=27 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="fugitives">{{cite web |last1=Armitage |first1=Simon |title=Fugitives |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Fugitives.pdf |access-date=27 September 2019}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref name="fugitives-video">{{cite web |title=Video of Armitage reading "Fugitives" on Arnside Knott |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/fugitives-video/ |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=13 January 2020}}</ref> Armitage wrote "Ark" for the naming ceremony of the [[British Antarctic Survey]]'s new ship [[RRS Sir David Attenborough|RRS ''Sir David Attenborough'']] on 26 September 2019.<ref name="bas">{{cite web |title=Ship is named with royal ceremony |url=https://www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/ship-is-named-with-royal-ceremony/ |publisher=[[British Antarctic Survey]] |access-date=27 September 2019 |date=26 September 2019}}</ref><ref name="ark">{{cite web |last1=Armitage |first1=Simon |title=Ark |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Amended-Ark.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=27 September 2019}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref name="ark-video">{{cite web |title=Video of Armitage reading "Ark" |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/ark-video/ |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=13 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Armitage, Simon |date=September 2020 |title=Ark |journal=Scientific American |volume=323 |issue=3 |pages=20 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0920-22 |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poem-bring-back-the-leaf/ }}</ref> "the event horizon" was written in 2019 to commemorate the opening of The Oglesby Centre, an extension to [[Hallé St Peter's]], the Halle orchestra's venue for rehearsals, recordings, education and small performances. The poem is incorporated into the building "in the form of a letter-cut steel plate situated in the entrance to the auditorium, the 'event horizon'".<ref name="eventhorizon">{{cite web |title=the event horizon |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Event-Horizon-RV-Simon-Armitage-2019.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=13 January 2020}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> "Ode to a Clothes Peg" celebrates the bicentenary of [[John Keats]]' [[John Keats's 1819 odes|six 1819 odes]] of which Armitage says, "Among his greatest works, the poems are also some of the most famous in the English Language."<ref name="peg">{{cite web |title=Ode to a Clothes Peg |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Ode-to-a-Clothes-Peg-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=13 January 2020}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref>

On 12 January 2020, Armitage gave the first reading of his poem "Astronomy for Beginners", written to celebrate the bicentenary of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]], on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s ''[[Broadcasting House (radio programme)|Broadcasting House]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d6rx|title=BBC Radio 4 – Broadcasting House, 12/01/2020|website=BBC}}</ref><ref name="astronomy">{{cite web |title=Astronomy for Beginners |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Astronomy-for-Beginners-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=13 January 2020}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> "Lockdown", first published in ''[[The Guardian]]'' on 21 March 2020, is a response to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom|coronavirus pandemic]], referencing the Derbyshire "plague village" of [[Eyam]], which self-isolated in 1665 to limit the spread of the [[Great Plague of London]], and the Sanskrit poem "[[Meghadūta]]" by [[Kālidāsa]], in which a cloud carries a message from an exile to his distant wife.<ref name="flood-lockdown">{{cite news |last1=Flood |first1=Alison |title=Lockdown: Simon Armitage writes poem about coronavirus outbreak |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/21/lockdown-simon-armitage-writes-poem-about-coronavirus-outbreak |access-date=30 March 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=21 March 2020}}</ref><ref name="lockdown">{{cite web |title=Lockdown |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Lockdown-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=30 March 2020}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> Armitage read his "Still Life", another poem about the lockdown, on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s ''[[Today (BBC Radio 4)|Today]]'' programme on 20 April 2020.<ref name="today-still">{{cite web |title='Still Life' by Simon Armitage |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08b0n8m |website=www.bbc.co.uk |access-date=28 January 2021 |date=20 April 2020}}</ref><ref name="Still Life">{{cite web |title=Still Life|url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Still-Life.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=28 January 2021}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> An installation of his "The Omnipresent" was part of an outdoor exhibition ''Everyday Heroes'' at London's [[Southbank Centre]] in autumn 2020.<ref name="everyday">{{cite web |title=Everyday Heroes |url=https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/art-exhibitions/everyday-heroes?tab=poets |website=www.southbankcentre.co.uk |publisher=Southbank Centre |access-date=28 January 2021 }}</ref><ref name="omnipresent">{{cite web |title=The Omnipresent |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Omnipresent.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=28 January 2021}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> [[Huddersfield Choral Society]] commissioned Armitage to provide lyrics for works by [[Cheryl Frances-Hoad]] and [[Daniel Kidane]], resulting in "The Song Thrush and the Mountain Ash" and "We'll Sing", which were released on video in autumn 2020. Armitage asked members of the choir to send him one word each to represent their experience of lockdown, and worked with these to produce the two lyrics.<ref name="wellsing-lyrics">{{cite web |title=Lyrics |url=https://wellsing.huddersfieldchoral.com/lyrics |website=We'll Sing |publisher=Huddersfield Choral Society |access-date=28 January 2021}} ''Includes word list''</ref><ref name="parr">{{cite web |last1=Parr |first1=Freya |title=Poet Laureate Simon Armitage to write lyrics to music set by Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Daniel Kidane in response to COVID-19 |url=https://www.classical-music.com/news/poet-laureate-simon-armitage-to-write-lyrics-to-music-set-by-cheryl-frances-hoad-and-daniel-kidane-in-response-to-covid-19/ |website=Classical Music |access-date=28 January 2021 |language=en |date=9 October 2020}}</ref><ref name="wellsing">{{cite web |title=We'll Sing |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Well-Sing.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=28 January 2021}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref name="songthrush">{{cite web |title=The Song Thrush and the Mountain Ash|url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Song-Thrush-and-the-Mountain-Ash.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=28 January 2021}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> Armitage read "The Bed" in [[Westminster Abbey]] on 11 November 2020 at the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the burial of [[The Unknown Warrior]].<ref name="bbc2020nov11">{{cite news |title=Armistice Day: Centenary of Unknown Warrior burial marked |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54897427 |access-date=17 November 2020 |work=BBC News |date=11 November 2020}}</ref><ref name="bed">{{cite web |publisher=Simon Armitage|title=The Bed |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Bed.pdf |access-date=17 November 2020 |date=11 November 2020}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref>

" 'I speak as someone ...' " was first published in ''[[The Times]]'' on 20 February 2021 and commemorates the 200th anniversary of the death of the poet [[John Keats]], who died in Rome on 23 February 1821.<ref name="ispeak">{{cite web |title='I speak as someone...'|url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/I-speak-as-someone.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=29 March 2021}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref name="morrison">{{cite news |last1=Morrison |first1=Richard |title=Simon Armitage: Ode to my hero, John Keats |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/simon-armitage-ode-to-my-hero-john-keats-zt5zvxp57 |access-date=29 March 2021 |work=The Times |date=20 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="nolife">{{cite news |title=No life without death, no death without life': laureate's tribute to Keats |url=https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=112605 |access-date=29 March 2021 |work=Write Out Loud |date=22 February 2021 |language=en-gb}}</ref> To mark a stage in the easing of [[COVID-19 lockdowns#United Kingdom|lockdown]], Armitage wrote "Cocoon" which he read on BBC Radio 4's ''[[Today (BBC Radio 4)|Today]]'' on 29 March 2021.<ref name="times30march">{{cite news |title=The Times view on the easing of lockdown: A Butterfly Yawns |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/article/the-times-view-on-the-easing-of-lockdown-a-butterfly-yawns-3jkb077k9 |access-date=1 April 2021 |work=The Times |date=30 March 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="touchwood">{{cite news |title='Touch wood, cross fingers ... Out we come': laureate marks easing of lockdown with 'Cocoon' |url=https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=113705 |access-date=1 April 2021 |work=Write Out Loud |date=31 March 2021 |language=en-gb}}</ref> "The Patriarchs – An Elegy" marks the death of [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh|Prince Philip]] and was released on the day of his funeral, 17 April 2021. It refers to the snow on the day of his death, and Armitage has said "I've written about a dozen laureate poems since I was appointed, but this is the first royal occasion and it feels like a big one".<ref name="cain">{{cite news |last1=Cain |first1=Sian |title=Poet laureate Simon Armitage publishes elegy for Prince Philip |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/17/poet-laureate-simon-armitage-elegy-for-prince-philip-the-patriarchs-an-elegy |access-date=24 April 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=16 April 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="thepatriarchs">{{cite web |title=The Patriarchs – An Elegy |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Patriarchs-An-Elegy.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=24 April 2021}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref name="bbc-patriarchs">{{cite news |title=Prince Philip: The Patriarchs – An Elegy |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-56785412 |access-date=24 April 2021 |work=BBC News |date=17 April 2021}} ''Recording of Armitage reading the poem over a series of photographs''</ref> Armitage wrote "70 notices" in 2021 as a commission for the [[Off the Shelf Festival]] to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the creation of the [[Peak District]] [[National parks of the United Kingdom|National Park]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bolton |first1=Gay |title=Peak District 's 70th anniversary is celebrated in poems and book to be shared at Off the Shelf Festival |url=https://www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/poet-laureate-simon-armitage-will-share-his-homage-to-peak-district-at-off-the-shelf-festival-3384854 |access-date=22 February 2022 |work=www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk |date=11 October 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="seventy">{{cite web |title=70 Notices |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/70-Notices-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=22 February 2022}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> "Futurama" was Armitage's response to the 2021 [[2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference|Cop26]] conference held in Glasgow, and he said of it "I was trying to chart the peculiar dream-like state we seem to be in, where the rules and natural laws of the old world feel to be in flux".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Armitage |first1=Simon |title=A strange poem for strange times: a response to Cop26 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/05/a-strange-poem-for-strange-times-a-response-to-cop26 |access-date=6 June 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=5 November 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="futurama">{{cite web |title=Futurama |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Futurama.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=6 June 2022}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> In November 2019 Armitage announced that he would donate his salary as poet laureate to create the [[Poetry School#Laurel Prize|Poetry School's Laurel Prize]] for a collection of poems "with nature and the environment at their heart". The prize is to be run by the Poetry School.<ref name=flood-laurel>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/21/simon-armitage-nature-has-come-back-to-the-centre-of-poetry |work=[[The Guardian]] |title=Simon Armitage: 'Nature has come back to the centre of poetry' |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=21 November 2019}}</ref>

Armitage wrote "Resistance", about the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]], published in ''The Guardian'' on 12 March 2022.<ref>{{cite news |last=Armitage |first=Simon |title=Resistance  |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/resistance-by-simon-armitage-ukraine-poem |access-date=12 March 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=11 March 2022 }} ''Text of poem''</ref><ref name="resistance">{{cite web |title=Resistance |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Resistance-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=6 June 2022}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> He described it as "a refracted version of what is coming at us in obscene images through the news".<ref name="sherwood">{{cite news |last=Sherwood |first=Harriet |title=Poet laureate Simon Armitage writes Ukraine war poem Resistance |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/poet-laureate-simon-armitage-writes-ukraine-war-poem-resistance |access-date=12 March 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=11 March 2022 }}</ref> Armitage read his "Only Human" at [[York Minster]] on 23 March 2022 during a service on the second annual [[National Day of Reflection]] to remember lives lost during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]]; the poem will be inscribed in a garden of remembrance at the Minster.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Day of Reflection – Poem; Poet Laureate Simon Armitage – Only Human |url=https://www.englishcathedrals.co.uk/latest-news/national-day-of-reflection-poem-poet-laureate-simon-armitage/ |website=The Association of English Cathedrals |access-date=6 June 2022 |date=2022}}</ref><ref name="onlyhuman">{{cite web |title=Only Human |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Only-Human-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=6 June 2022}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> For the [[Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II]] in June 2022, Armitage wrote "[[Queenhood]]".<ref name="queenhood">{{cite web |title=Queenhood |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/Queenhood-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf|publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=17 June 2022}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref> It was published in ''[[The Times]]'' on 3 June<ref name="billen">{{cite news |last1=Billen |first1=Andrew |title=Queenhood: Read Simon Armitage's new poem for the Platinum Jubilee |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/royal-family/article/simon-armitage-ive-been-very-much-won-over-by-the-queen-gg0zrd5g5 |access-date=6 June 2022 |work=The Times |date=3 June 2022 |language=en|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and as a signed limited-edition pamphlet sold through commercial outlets ({{ISBN|9780571379606}}), and on the royal.uk website.<ref>{{cite web |title=Queenhood: A Poem for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee 2022 |url=https://www.royal.uk/queenhood-poem-queen%E2%80%99s-platinum-jubilee-2022 |website=royal.uk |publisher=The Royal Household |access-date=17 June 2022 |date=9 June 2022}}</ref> He published "Floral Tribute" on 13 September 2022, to commemorate the [[Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II|death of Elizabeth II]]; it takes the form of a double [[acrostic]] in which the initial letters of the lines of each of its two stanzas spell out "Elizabeth".<ref>{{cite news |last=Armitage |first=Simon |title=Floral Tribute, a poem for the Queen |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/13/floral-tribute-poem-queen-elizabeth-simon-armitage-poet-laureate?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other |access-date=13 September 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=13 September 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Knight |first=Lucy |title=Poet laureate honours Queen Elizabeth II with new work, Floral Tribute |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/13/poet-laureate-queen-elizabeth-ii-floral-tribute?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other |access-date=13 September 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=13 September 2022 }}</ref> Later that day he explained and read the poem on ''[[BBC News at Ten]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001c273 |title=BBC News at Ten |date=13 September 2022 |publisher=bbc.co.uk |access-date=14 September 2022}}</ref> To celebrate the centenary of the [[BBC]], Armitage wrote "Transmission Report", which was broadcast on ''[[The One Show]]'' on 24 October 2022, read by a cast of BBC celebrities including [[Brian Cox (physicist)|Brian Cox]], [[Michael Palin]], [[Mary Berry]] and [[Chris Packham]], accompanied by the [[BBC Concert Orchestra]].<ref name="transmission">{{cite web |title=Transmission Report|url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/BBC-100-Transmission-Report-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf|publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=26 October 2022}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=BBC shares Poet Laureate Simon Armitage's poem to mark centenary |url=https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2022/bbc-centenary-poem-poet-laureate-simon-armitage |website=www.bbc.com |access-date=26 October 2022 |language=en |date=24 October 2022}} ''Includes link to video of the broadcast''</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Simon Armitage's poem celebrating 100 years of the BBC released with moving star-studded video |url=https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/english/news/article/2245/simon-armitage-s-poem-celebrating-100-years-of-the-bbc-released-with-moving-star-studded-video |website= |publisher=University of Leeds: School of English |access-date=26 October 2022 |language=en |date=25 October 2022}}</ref> Armitage wrote "The Making of the Flying Scotsman (a phantasmagoria)" to mark the centenary of the locomotive [[LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman|Flying Scotsman]], which entered service on 24 February 1923.<ref name="scotsman">{{cite web |title=The Making of the Flying Scotsman (a phantasmagoria)|url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Making-of-Flying-Scotsman-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf|publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=25 February 2023}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Flying Scotsman: Event marks 100th anniversary of famous locomotive |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-64760769 |access-date=25 February 2023 |work=BBC News |date=24 February 2023}}</ref> On [[World Poetry Day]], 21 March 2023, he released his "Plum Tree Among the Skyscrapers", the first of a series of 10 works to be commissioned by the [[National Trust]] and created by Armitage and his band LYR.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Tobi |title=Simon Armitage savours spring 'ecstasy and melancholy' on World Poetry Day |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/21/poet-laureate-simon-armitage-pays-homage-spring-world-poetry-day |access-date=21 March 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=21 March 2023}} ''Includes full text of the poem''</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Poet Laureate Simon Armitage creates blossom-inspired poem |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/news/poet-laureate-simon-armitage-creates-blossom-inspired-poem |website=National Trust |access-date=21 March 2023 |language=en |date=21 March 2023}} ''Includes audio clip of Armitage reading the poem''</ref> For the [[coronation of Charles III and Camilla]] on 6 May 2023, Armitage wrote "An Unexpected Guest", telling the tale of a woman invited to attend the coronation in [[Westminster Abbey]], and quoting from [[Samuel Pepys]]' diary entry recording the coronation of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] in 1661.<ref name="unexpected">{{cite web |title=An Unexpected Guest |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/An-Unexpected-Guest-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf|publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=8 May 2023}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A New Simon Armitage Poem to Mark the Coronation |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/news/a-new-simon-armitage-poem-to-mark-the-coronation/ |website=poetrysociety.org.uk |publisher=The Poetry Society |access-date=8 May 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title='An Unexpected Guest' – a poem to mark the Coronation |url=https://www.royal.uk/an-unexpected-guest-a-poem-to-mark-the-coronation |publisher=The Royal Household |access-date=8 May 2023}}</ref>

In July 2023, Armitage spent time on [[Spitsbergen]] at the [[British Antarctic Survey]]'s [[Ny-Ålesund]] research station, and wrote a group of poems relating to his visit.<ref>{{cite web |title=Poet Laureate visits UK Arctic Research Station |url=https://www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/poet-laureate-visits-uk-arctic-research-station/ |website=British Antarctic Survey |access-date=10 October 2023 |date=14 July 2023}}</ref> "The Summit" was published in ''[[The Guardian]]'' in October 2023, ahead of a series of four [[BBC Radio 4]] programmes called ''Poet Laureate in the Arctic'', broadcast from 10 October 2023.<ref name="washy">{{cite news |last1=Armitage |first1=Simon |title='Washy clouds and a weepy sky floating upside down': Simon Armitage's Arctic expedition |url=https://theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/07/washy-clouds-and-a-weepy-sky-floating-upside-down-simon-armitages-arctic-expedition |access-date=9 October 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=7 October 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 – Poet Laureate in the Arctic |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001r7zg |website=BBC |access-date=10 October 2023 |date=10 October 2023}}</ref>  "Polaris" was the lyric used for [[BBC Radio 3]]{{'s}} 2023 Carol Competition: Armitage said "I was hoping to write something that might appeal to people of different backgrounds and different ages, with a narrative and maybe a slight nursery rhyme or nonsense feel to it, but with a serious and timely message at its heart. I don't think there are any other carols that begin with the words "The police…!"".<ref>{{cite web |title=Polaris |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Polaris-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=7 April 2025}} ''Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Poet Laureate Simon Armitage pens climate inspired lyrics for this year's BBC Radio 3 Carol Competition |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/simon-armitage-pens-lyrics-for-bbc-radio-3-carol-competition |website=www.bbc.co.uk |access-date=7 April 2025 |language=en |date=11 September 2023}}</ref> "Megalosaurus" celebrates the 200th anniversary of the naming of the [[megalosaurus]] and was commissioned by the [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Megalosaurus |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Megalosaurus-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=7 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=From the 'first dinosaur' to the scientific legacy of a 19th-century power couple |url=https://www.oumnh.ox.ac.uk/sitefiles/breaking-ground-exhibition-news-release-oct-2024.pdf |publisher=Oxford University Museum of Natural History |access-date=7 April 2025 |date=9 October 2024}}</ref> "Hinge" forms part of a collaboration with sculptor [[Anthony Gormley]], commissioned by [[Trinity College, Oxford]]: the poem is displayed in relief on a rusting metal door which leads into the college grounds from [[Parks Road]] and unveiled in March 2025.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hinge |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hinge-by-Simon-Armitage-1.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=7 April 2025 |date=2025}}''Includes full text of poem''</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=College Unveils Public Art Collaboration Between Antony Gormley and Simon Armitage |url=https://www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/news/college-unveils-public-art-collaboration-between-antony-gormley-and-simon-armitage |website=www.trinity.ox.ac.uk |publisher=Trinity College Oxford |access-date=7 April 2025 |language=en |date=13 March 2025}}</ref> [[His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service]] commissioned "A Life In The Day Of" as part of a March 2025 campaign aiming to recruit [[probation officer]]s with life experience, the way Armitage's father had joined the service; Armitage drew on his own memories of work as a probation officer.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Life In The Day Of |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/A-Life-In-The-Day-Of-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=7 April 2025 |date=March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1= |first1= |title=Yorkshire's Simon Armitage Pens New Poem To Change Perceptions Of Probation Service |url=https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Yorkshires-Simon-Armitage-Pens-New-Poem-To-Change-Perceptions-Of-Probation-Servi- |access-date=7 April 2025 |work=Yorkshire Times |date=20 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title='A life in the day of' - Simon Armitage's ode to the Probation Service |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwjOu3hCfX0&t=17s |publisher=HM Prison and Probation Service |access-date=7 April 2025 |date=20 March 2025}} ''Video with Armitage voice-over''</ref> [[Portsmouth City Council]] commissioned "The Theatre of the Sea" which is cast in brass letters and embedded in the sea defence wall at [[Southsea]], unveiled in April 2025; Armitage commented that it was "a great honour and a wonderful kind of reunion" to write a poem for the city where he studied for his geography degree.<ref name="paine">{{cite news |last1=Paine |first1=Toby |title=Poignant Simon Armitage poem takes centre stage on Southsea seafront |url=https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/arts-and-culture/simon-armitage-poem-takes-centre-stage-on-southsea-seafront-5085096 |access-date=10 May 2025 |work=The News |date=16 April 2025 |language=en}} ''Includes video of Armitage reading the poem alongside the sea wall''</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Simon | last=Armitage|title=The Theatre of the Sea |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/The-Theatre-of-the-Sea-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=10 May 2025}}''Includes full text of poem''</ref> "In Retrospect" was commissioned by [[Historic Royal Palaces]] to mark the 80th anniversary, in May 2025, of [[VE Day]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.faber.co.uk/journal/a-poem-to-mark-the-80th-anniversary-of-ve-day-by-simon-armitage/|title=A poem to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day by Simon Armitage|first=Tim|last=Woodall|date=7 May 2025|website=Faber}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Armitage |first1=Simon |title=In Retrospect |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/In-Retrospect-by-Simon-Armitage.pdf |publisher=Simon Armitage |access-date=10 May 2025}}</ref>