Michael Symmons Roberts' Christmas card poem

迈克尔·西蒙斯·罗伯茨的圣诞卡片诗

The Documentary Podcast

2025-12-22

26 分钟
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单集简介 ...

There’s a tradition among poets to write a poem to put inside the Christmas cards they send. So, the BBC World Service has commissioned one specially from the poet, dramatist and novelist Michael Symmons Roberts, whose Christian faith is important to his identity and work. But his art is not a direct expression of this, and instead he follows the poet Emily Dickinson’s instruction to "tell all the truth but tell it slant". Michael has just become a grandfather, so feels keenly the happiness of the arrival of a cherished child, creating a parallel between his own life and the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus. Julian May follows Michael’s creative process as he grapples huge spiritual and personal themes – distilling them to a length which can fit on a Christmas card: a daunting but joyful task. The programme begins on London’s Oxford Street, where consumerism triggers preparations a full three months before Christmas, and ends with the sealing of the Christmas cards before they are popped into the post box.
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单集文稿 ...

  • This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

  • Welcome to the documentary in the studio from the BBC World Service.

  • I'm Julian May.

  • and I'm on the roof of Broadcasting House, the BBC's headquarters in the heart of London.

  • The view is amazing.

  • The city is a light with Christmas decorations.

  • There's a host of bright angels hovering above the shops of Regent Street and there are crowds of people shopping

  • for presents and posting their Christmas cards.

  • The people of Britain send about a billion cards every Christmas.

  • Some of these will include a specially written poem

  • because there's a bit of a tradition among poets to write a Christmas card poem for their family and friends.

  • So I asked the poet Michael Simmons Roberts to write a Christmas card poem and let me follow its creation for in the studio.

  • Michael Simmons Roberts has published eight collections of poems and won many awards.

  • He would, I thought, Right,

  • an engaging and interesting Christmas card poem

  • because Michael was once a staunch atheist but is now a Christian.

  • It's only two weeks until Christmas Day but we began this journey on the 1st of October and when we met I asked Michael how he would approach this.

  • My poem will have to connect with the Christmas story

  • because It's part of my life and my work and all my poems in some way,

  • I think, respond to my faith.

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