Summary Duffy also wrote a poem for the 2011 wedding of the monarch's grandson Prince William.
LONDON (AFP) - Britain s poet laureate is working on a new poem -- about the demise of traditional gas and electricity meters.
Carol Ann Duffy admitted the work marking the government s decision to fit all British homes and small businesses with smart meters by 2020, was "one of my most unusual projects".
"Gas and electricity meters have been a fixture under stairs and in cupboards for more than a hundred years so it felt fitting to preserve their place in household history with a poem," the Glasgow-born writer said.
"It is definitely one of my most unusual projects, but hopefully I m able to produce a piece that captures the last whirs of these spinning machines before they make way for their digital counterparts."
Last year, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra addressed the same subject with a recording of A Requiem For Meters, a three-minute piece played entirely on instruments made from old gas and electricity meters.
But some Britons were baffled by Duffy s fixation with the humble gas meter at a time when Queen Elizabeth II -- who named her to the ten-year honorary post of poet laureate in 2009 --- is preparing to mark her 90th birthday on Thursday.
Royalists questioned why Duffy was not penning a poem for the monarch instead.
"She is the poet laureate, she certainly should be knocking out a poem," Ingrid Seward, royal biographer and editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"I think the queen herself will not mind, but the people around her would think that s a bit of an insult," Seward said.
Duffy wrote a poem for the 2011 wedding of the monarch s grandson Prince William and for the 60th anniversary of the queen s coronation in 2013.
But she has also taken inspiration from subjects as diverse as England footballer David Beckham and the scandal over British lawmakers parliamentary expenses.
