Dear universe,
I shaved this morning –
look at these
fine black pinpricks
constellated
in the white sink.
The new moon
of this nail clipping
proves I’m alive,
and once every couple of months
I regrow a fringe.
Universe, it’s against you
I measure myself:
the laws of thermodynamics
are calling my warm atoms
into deep space,
but for now
I’m holding
this hair, these bristles,
this middle finger
up to your smug face.
__________________________________
From New Cemetery. Used with the permission of the publisher, Scribner. Copyright © 2026 by Simon Armitage.
Simon Armitage
Simon Armitage was born in West Yorkshire and is Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield. A recipient of numerous prizes and awards, he has published eleven collections of poetry, including Seeing Stars, Paper Aeroplane: Selected Poems 1989 – 2014, and his acclaimed translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Shout: Selected Poems, was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and his translation of the medieval poem Pearl received the 2017 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. He writes extensively for radio and television, has published three best-selling non-fiction titles, and his theatre works include The Last Days of Troy, performed at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. He has taught at the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop, and in 2015 was appointed Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.
