Context

• 'running children in a nightmare heat' - allusion to what

  'napalm girl' photograph - photo of 9 year old girl running naked towards camera in agony during Vietnam war - received lots of attention in media and published on front page of New York Times - girl was named United Nations goodwill ambassador in 1997 and gives speeches around world
• what may duffy have been critiquing in her poem

  how over time the impact of war photography is depleting - emphasises that a single famous photo is not enough recognition of suffering that endures all over the world
• why was Duffy appointed uk's poet Laurette

  she didn't support and advocate for traditional convention - not an establishment poet and most of her poetry was strongly feminist
• what likely inspired this poem

  duffy was friends with a war photographer - she had an affinity for those whose occupation was concerned with capturing and crystallising emotions - while a war photographer does this with images, she does it with words