A curated selection of poets and spoken word artists who have influenced and shaped the UK’s poetic legacy from the 18th century to present day.

Ten contemporary poets and a musician collaborated with curators at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter to respond to items they selected. Here are their responses.

Hear poets describe the items they have donated, the stories behind them and why they chose to share them. To see the donated artefacts themselves, visit our Collections page.

Hear the poets from the response gallery as they talk through their process creating their response poems.

Step inside our donated collections from some of the poets featured in our exhibition. To hear more about the artefacts, visit our Podcasts page.

My Words Northern Poets showcases nine audio recorded poems. These are performed by the nine nominated poets based in the North of England, for Museum of Colour and Manchester Poetry Library's archives. Co-curated by Words of Colour and Manchester Poetry Library.