Last week, I wrote about the poem that British Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy was writing for Prince William and Kate Middleton, now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Duffy is a mom, and also a lesbian, and had hinted that any poem she wrote for the royal wedding would be inclusive of both marriages and civil partnerships.
Well, the poem is out, and Deb over at Deb on the Rocks has given it her analysis. She calls it “absolutely queer,” and writes, “Duffy gave the Royal Couple, and the British people, a dyke love song.”
I can’t disagree with Deb’s interpretation of the feminine aspects of the imagery. I’m not convinced Duffy was deliberately writing a dyke love poem for William and Kate, though—but I do think that at the very least, she was being deliberately ambiguous, and that is perhaps enough to make it queer indeed. The poem takes the idea of a union between two people completely out of the context of a public wedding ceremony, and makes it very much about the personal relationship, which transcends public ceremony or legalities. I can totally see it used as a reading for many a lesbian wedding/commitment ceremony. It’s a beautiful poem and well worth a read (as is Deb’s post about it).
I also think it’s a sign of the times that the Guardian newspaper, in reprinting the poem along with several other new love poems, says (my emphasis), “I’m sure that many of these wonderful poems will be spoken in future years at partnerships and weddings.” The Guardian has always been left of center, so maybe that’s not surprising—but as someone who lived in the U.K. during the time of Section 28, which forbid public authorities from “promoting homosexuality,” this seems like progress to me.
What do you think of the poem?
Considering how much mention has been made of the fact that William isn’t wearing a wedding ring, a poem about people giving each other rings seems a rather odd choice.