The Poet Laureate's essential selection of his poems, read in his own voice, with additional introductory material that does not appear in the published edition. When Simon Armitage burst on to the poetry scene in 1989 with his spectacular debut Zoom!, readers were introduced to an exceptional new talent who would reshape the landscape of contemporary poetry in the years to come. Now, Armitage's reputation as one of the nation's most original, respected and widely read poets seems secure. Paper Aeroplane: Poems 1989–2014 is the author's own selection from over a quarter-century of publishing. Drawing upon all of his award-winning poetry collections, including Kid, Seeing Stars, The Unaccompanied and Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic, this is a generous and thrilling gathering of work for students and general readers alike. "What surprises is how urgent and contemporary his early poems still read ... this selected poems proves that he has written some of the very best, most memorable poems of recent decades ... a writer who has had a game-changing influence on his contemporaries, and continues to cast a shadow over younger poets." GUARDIAN "There is no other poet writing in modern Britain who has his feeling for its words and things: the cashpoints, the power tools, the "mail-order driftwood"; the clichés, the jokes, the unspoken emotions. ... the most popular English poet since Larkin." SUNDAY TIMES "Armitage is that rare beast: a poet whose work is ambitious, accomplished and complex as well as popular." SUNDAY TELEGRAPH "The best poet of his generation." OBSERVER