Britain has seen an alarming rise in poetry sales

Donna Ashworth, a British poet, loves words. You can tell because on her website she calls herself “Donna Ashworth—Author and lover of words”, doubtless to distinguish herself from all those other authors who don’t like words. But Ms Ashworth loves so much more than words, for, as she says, “what are we here to do, if not love?” So she also loves our “magical” planet, and being kind, and wrinkles, and the child within us all and putting meaningful things in italics.

It goes without saying that she loves motherly love. A mother’s love for her son is “like a beautiful black-hole”, which is not a line to run past an astronomer. Or a Freudian. She loves hope (“It is the light”), ageing and stretch marks (for they are “by Mother Nature’s paintbrush”). The overall effect feels less like poetry than as though ChatGPT has been asked to produce inspirational fridge magnets.