A pill with cancer’s name on it is Poet Laureate’s first work
‘The shortest poems are the hardest, their smallness making them so much more conspicuous and vulnerable’
ACCORDING to Simon Armitage, short poems are always the hardest to write.
His first public commission as Poet Laureate, then, must have been one of the toughest of his career – a poem to fit on a pill. The work, Finishing It, is 51 words long and appears on a pill measuring 22mm by 10mm.
It was commissioned by the Institute of Cancer Research and engraved on both sides of a gypsum powder replica pill to convey the “incredible precision science” behind the latest treatments. The work, in its own words, is “the sugared pill of a poem, one sentence that speaks ill of illness itself, bullet with cancer’s name carved brazenly on it”. It will be displayed at the Institute’s Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery when it opens next year.
Armitage said: “Science and poetry are closer associates than many people assume, and it was exciting to work on a project that deals with cutting-edge medical research. I liked the sense that poem and pill might collaborate to produce both a medical and emotional cure, and that something so minimalist could aim to bring down something so enormous and destructive.
“I experimented for a long time with the language – the shortest poems are always the hardest to write, their smallness making them so much more conspicuous and vulnerable.”
But a greater challenge faced Graham Short, the artist who inscribed the poem. He specialises in micro-engraving, and his projects include a portrait of the Queen to fit in the eye of a needle, and the words “nothing is impossible” on the sharp edge of a razor blade.
Short takes beta blockers, potassium and magnesium to lower his heart rate to 20bpm. He wears a stethoscope to listen to his heart, engraving between heartbeats, and works from midnight to 5am to avoid vibrations from traffic.
The 73-year-old also swims 10km a day, reasoning that the fitter he is, the lower his resting pulse rate will be.
He said: “The pill was probably the hardest job I’ve ever done. It kept crumbling and it was so difficult to do.”
Another £14 million in donations is needed to complete the London centre where scientists will work on a “Darwinian” drug discovery programme that aims to overcome cancer’s ability to develop a resistance to drugs.
Dr Olivia Rossanese, head of biology at the centre, said: “The poem beautifully shares our story and symbolises the hope of what’s to come, the message made more powerful by being engraved on a pill that represents the kinds of treatments we will be developing in the very near future.”
Armitage was named Poet Laureate in May and said at the time: “I’m not going to hand over anything to anybody that I’m not pleased with. In my view there is no worse gift to anybody than a bad poem.”