Sometimes poetry can bring home the reality of a situation like nothing else. Walking through Coombe Woods last weekend, listening to the Today programme, they had a feature on the live poetry reading being held in aid of Haiti. The Welsh poet laureate Gillian Clarke read a poem she had written specifically for the event.

You can hear it on the BBC website.

The post of Welsh national poet is very recent, created in 2005. Gillian Clarke is only the third poet to hold the post and her work is a potent reminder of the power of poetry to capture the raw essence of an event or situation, even in this technology-obsessed age.