| Kid | |
| Author: | Simon Armitage |
| Genre: | Poetry |
| Publisher: | Faber and Faber |
| Pub Date: | 1992 |
| Media Type: | Paperback |
| Awards: | Forward Prize for Poetry |
| Isbn: | 978-0571166077 |
| Oclc: | 919570527 |
| Preceded By: | Zoom! |
| Followed By: | Book of Matches |
| Website: | https://www.simonarmitage.com/kid/ |
Kid is the second collection of poems by Simon Armitage, published in 1992. The book won a Forward Prize for Poetry.
Simon Armitage is an English poet, playwright and novelist. He was appointed as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 2019.[1] He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds and became Oxford Professor of Poetry when he was elected to the four-year part-time appointment from 2015 to 2019. He was born and raised in Marsden, West Yorkshire.[2] [3] At the start of his career, and at the time Kid was published, he was working as a probation officer.[4]
Kid, Armitage's second book of poetry,[5] was his first to be published by Faber and Faber, in 1992.[6]
The 48 poems in the collection, structured as a single list, include:
The collection was described by the poet and novelist Ruth Padel as being "Very Yorkshire; very Simon Armitage".[6] She wrote that the book "consolidated his name for technical virtuosity [and] black humour",[6] the voice having "a self-deprecatingly cocky self-centredness."[6] In her view, the first poem, "Brassneck", about a murderer, had "brilliant rhyme";[6] but she noted that some, especially poets, "found it less convincing than Zoom!."[6]
The book won a Forward Prize for Poetry in the "best first collection" category in 1992, the first year in which the prizes were awarded.[8]