I was lucky enough to design a range of jewellery inspired by the poetry and children’s books of the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy for the Much Wenlock Poetry Festival. Carol Ann Duffy was the patron of the festival and also performed there.

I was excited about the idea of making a connection between poetry and jewellery. Poetry has always been a passion and I love Carol Ann Duffy’s work. Her poems and stories are full of jewellery images and metaphors and were a feast of inspiration. The poems set my creative forces alight. It was a pleasure using such beautiful words as inspiration for my work and I can only hope Carol Ann feels that what I have created has done them some degree of justice. 

Finding the Words

By Carol Ann Duffy

I found the words at the back of a drawer,

Wrapped in black cloth, like three rings

Slipped from a dead woman’s hand, cold,

dull gold. I had held them before,

                                                    years ago,

then put them away, forgetting whatever is was

I could use them to say. I touched the first to my lips,

The second, the third, like a sacrament,

Like a pledge, like a kiss,

                                      And my breath

warmed them, the words i needed to utter this, small words,

and few. I rubbed at them till they gleamed in my palm -

I love you, i love you, i love you - 

as though they were new.