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Celebrities, do your worst with verse – just don't call it poetry

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PJ Harvey can be trusted to produce the good stuff, but when other arty types wax poetic, the results – and reviews – can be mixed

Oh great and gentle muse, inspire Beyoncé with your genius

The indie music darling PJ Harvey has announced she’s publishing a book of poetry. Given the consistently high quality of her musical output over the years (and also because I’ve harboured a muso crush on Polly since the early 1990s and she can do no wrong in my eyes). I’m confident her musings won’t send the ancient art of poetry into disrepute.

However, the transition from musician to poet isn’t always an easy one. There’s a real risk that, without any musical accompaniment to help an initial idea to blossom, a songwriter’s words will land with a dull thud when attending the party on their own. It takes skill to make language dance without a soundtrack.

There are so many things, that I want to do, but I just run out of drive.
There are so many things to share with you, but I wonder why I’m alive
My world’s mine and yours is yours, and I really don’t want to change it
But I think that love is the primary cause, and why I’d like to rearrange it.

There’s so much love I could give to you, I just want that you should know it.
There’s so many reasons to live for you, I just wish that I could show it
My world’s mine and yours is yours, and I know that yours is free
But I don’t want to live in this world of mine if I must live here as me.

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