Poetry anthologies (various poets)
Bloodaxe Books Ltd Land of Three Rivers: The Poetry of North-East
Book SynopsisLand of Three Rivers is a celebration of North-East England in poetry, featuring its places and people, culture, history, language and stories in poems and songs with both rural and urban settings. Taking its bearings from the Tyne, Wear and Tees of the title (from Vin Garbutt's song 'John North'), the book maps the region in poems relating to past and present, depicting life from Roman times through medieval Northumbria and the industrial era of mining and shipbuilding up to the present-day. The anthology has modern perspectives on historical subjects, such as W.H. Auden's 'Roman Wall Blues' and Alistair Elliot on the aftermath of the Battle of Heavenfield in the 7th century, as well as poets from past ages, starting with Caedmon, the first English poet, writing in the 8th century. There are classic North-East songs from the oral tradition of balladeers and pitmen poets alongside the work of literary chroniclers like Mark Akenside from the 18th century, followed by evocations of Northumberland by decadent gentry poet Algernon Charles Swinburne contrasting with grim tales of life down the pit by Tommy Armstrong, Joseph Skipsey and Thomas Wilson in the 19th century. The region's favourite tipple is championed by 18th-century poet John Cunningham in his eulogy 'Newcastle Beer', while 200 years later, Tony Harrison's defences are 'broken down / on nine or ten Newcastle Brown' in his 'Newcastle Is Peru' (1969). Durham is celebrated in a 12th-century priest's poem but is a trinity of 'University, Cathedral, Gaol' for Tony Harrison. The River Tyne flows through poems by Wilfrid Gibson, James Kirkup, Michael Roberts, Francis Scarfe from early to mid-20th century, while the region's dialects (from Northumbrian to Geordie and Pitmatic) are heard in poems by Basil Bunting, William Martin, Tom Pickard, Katrina Porteous and Fred Reed. Other modern and contemporary poets and songwriters featured include Gillian Allnutt, Peter Armstrong, Peter Bennet, Robyn Bolam, George Charlton, Julia Darling, Richard Dawson, the Elliotts of Birtley, W.N. Herbert, Alan Hull, James Kirkup, Mark Knopfler, Barry MacSweeney, Sean O'Brien, Rodney Pybus, Kathleen Raine, Jon Silkin and Anne Stevenson, as well as poets who've spent time in the North-East, such as Fleur Adcock, David Constantine, Fred D'Aguiar, Frances Horovitz, Philip Larkin, Michael Longley and Carol Rumens, writing highly memorable poems in response to the place, its people and their stories. The book's introduction is in two parts, with Rodney Pybus covering the historical background and Neil Astley the last 50 years. This emphasises the importance of the oral tradition during the centuries when little "written poetry" of note was produced in the region. There are also fascinating commentaries on key historical figures by the late Alan Myers.Table of ContentsVin Garbutt 14 John North Neil Astley 15 Land of Three Rivers: 1 Rodney Pybus 18 The Poetry of North-East England (1966) Andy Croft 30 Writing on Teesside: 1 (2010) Neil Astley 33 Land of Three Rivers: 2 Basil Bunting 38 What the Chairman Told Tom Andy Croft 40 Writing on Teesside: 2 (2010) LAND OF THREE RIVERS W.H. Auden 45 from New Year Letter Lilian Bowes Lyon 47 The Glittering North Mark Akenside 47 from The Pleasures of the Imagination A.C. Swinburne 49 Northumberland Basil Bunting 52 from Briggflatts Fred Reed 62 Springan HADRIAN’S WALL W.H. Auden 64 Roman Wall Blues Rudyard Kipling 65 The Roman Centurion’s Song Wilfrid Gibson 66 On Cawfields Crag Wilfrid Gibson 67 Chesterholm Wilfrid Gibson 67 The Watch on the Wall Frances Horovitz 69 Poem found at Chester’s Museum, Hadrian’s Wall Frances Horovitz 70 Rain – Birdoswald Frances Horovitz 71 Vindolanda – January Frances Horovitz 72 Brigomaglos, a Christian speaks… Frances Horovitz 73 The Crooked Glen Roger Garfitt 74 The Hooded Gods Gareth Reeves 75 Stone Relief Housesteads Esther Jansma 76 AD 128 Katrina Porteous 77 This Far and No Further Alistair Elliot 89 After Heavenfield Peter Armstrong 89 Between Greenhead and Sewingshields JARROW Bede 91 On Caedmon U.A. Fanthorpe 93 Caedmon’s Song Norman Nicholson 94 Caedmon Kathleen Raine 95 Northumbrian Sequence Anne Stevenson 104 Jarrow Carol Rumens 105 Jarrow Alistair Elliot 106 Talking to Bede W.N. Herbert 111 Bede’s World Jake Campbell 113 On Not Finding Bede Tom Kelly 114 Monument Tom Kelly 115 The Time Office, 1965 Tom Kelly 116 The Wrong Jarrow BORDERERS Traditional 117 The Battle of Otterbourne Fleur Adcock 121 Hotspur Peter Armstrong 127 Borderers Pippa Little 128 from Foray: Border Reiver Women 1500-1600 129 The Cheviots 129 Alicia Unthank’s Ark 130 The Robsons Gone 131 Truce Day Linda France 132 The Spur in the Dish Robyn Bolam 132 Raiding the Borders Katrina Porteous 134 Borderers Fred Reed 138 Northumborland (2) A.C. Swinburne 138 A Reiver’s Neck-Verse A.C. Swinburne 139 A Jacobite’s Exile (1764) NORTH TO SOUTH NORTHUMBERLAND Traditional 142 Old Border Rhyme Wilfrid Gibson 142 The Cheviot Traditional 143 Dunnie’s Song John Mackay Wilson 143 The Tweed Near Berwick Katrina Porteous 145 from Tweed Vincenza Holland 147 The Harbourmaster’s Daughter Anne Ryland 148 Midsummer Night, Berwick Peter Bennet 149 Duddo Stones Rodney Pybus 149 Routing Linn, Northumberland Linda France 151 Acknowledged Land Paul Summers 158 acknowledged land Tony Harrison 159 Stately Home Sir Walter Scott 159 from Marmion Wilfrid Gibson 162 Lindisfarne Katrina Porteous 163 Holy Island Arch Matthew Hollis 164 Causeway Cynthia Fuller 164 St Cuthbert on Inner Farne Andrew Waterhouse 165 Making the Book Katrina Porteous 167 A Short History of Bamburgh Fred Reed 168 Bamburgh Wind A.C. Swinburne 169 Grace Darling Michael Longley 172 Grace Darling Katrina Porteous 172 Charlie Douglas Katrina Porteous 174 The Marks t’ Gan By Katrina Porteous 175 Stinky Wilfrid Gibson 176 Dunstanborough Katrina Porteous 177 from Dunstanburgh Alistair Elliot 181 Deposition Katrina Porteous 182 Alnmouth Gillian Allnutt 184 At the Friary in Alnmouth R.V. Bailey 184 Druridge Bay Traditional 185 Felton Lonnen Basil Bunting 185 The Complaint of the Morpethshire Farmer Paul Batchelor 187 Butterwell Fred Reed 188 The Pit Heap Pippa Little 190 Seacoaling Tony Harrison 191 The Earthen Lot Traditional 192 The Blackleg Miner James Henry 193 ‘Two hundred men and eighteen killed…’ Joseph Skipsey 195 The Hartley Calamity Joseph Skipsey 198 The Collier Lad Joseph Skipsey 200 Get Up! NORTH TYNE, REDESDALE, COQUETDALE Robert Roxby 202 from The Lay of the Reedwater Minstrel Billy Bell 205 Winter on the Carter Fell James Armstrong 207 Wild Hills O’ Wannys Tom Pickard 209 The Raw Robert Hunter 212 Epitaph for Ned Allan Fred Reed 212 Northumborland (1) Basil Bunting 213 ‘Stones trip Coquetburn’ Colin Simms 214 from Hen Harrier Poems Colin Simms 214 ‘There are, were, four couples south of Cheviot…’ Colin Simms 214 ‘Formerly on traditionally-managed haughland…’ Colin Simms 215 Katharine Macgregor – of The Sneep, Tarset Colin Simms 215 ‘The cadence of a Strathspey, played slow…’ Peter Armstrong 216 Between Lord’s Shaw and Pit Houses Wilfrid Gibson 217 Sundaysight Wilfrid Gibson 218 Hareshaw Wilfrid Gibson 218 Hareshaw Linn Peter Bennet 219 Hareshaw Linn Billy Bell 220 An Old Shepherd’s Adventure at Bellingham Philip Larkin 223 Show Saturday Peter Armstrong 226 Bellingham James Armstrong 227 The Kielder Hunt Christy Ducker 228 How Mackie Did the Drowning, Plashetts Colin Simms 229 ‘Out, Northumberland, Out!’ Traditional 230 The Water of Tyne TYNEDALE, SOUTH TYNE, NORTH PENNINES Wilfrid Gibson 231 In Hexham Abbey Wilfrid Gibson 232 The Abbey Tower Wilfrid Gibson 233 Devilswater Wilfrid Gibson 234 Mother and Maid Terry Conway 235 Fareweel Regality Wilfrid Gibson 236 Fallowfield Fell Lauris Edmond 236 At Bywell Lilian Bowes Lyon 237 Allendale Dog W.H. Auden 238 Allendale Lilian Bowes Lyon 239 A Rough Walk Home W.H. Auden 241 The Old Lead-mine W.H. Auden 242 Rookhope (Weardale, Summer 1922) W.H. Auden 242 The Pumping Engine, Cashwell W.H. Auden 242 The Engine House W.H. Auden 243 Lead’s the Best W.H. Auden 245 The Watershed Jon Silkin 247 Killhope Wheel, 1860, Co. Durham Jon Silkin 248 Strike Jon Silkin 249 Spade Pru Kitching 250 Killhope Pru Kitching 251 What’s It Like Up There? Dorothy Long 252 Road Barry MacSweeney 253 No Buses to Damascus Barry MacSweeney 253 Cushy Number Colin Simms 254 High Fells, April 2011 Colin Simms 255 Where Rise Watters of Tyne, Tees, Wear NEWCASTLE John Cleveland 256 News from Newcastle Tony Harrison 260 Newcastle Is Peru Brendan Cleary 265 Newcastle Is Benidorm Ellen Phethean 266 Bacchantes Julia Darling 266 Newcastle Is Lesbos W.N. Herbert 268 The Entry of Don Quixote into Newcastle upon Tyne W.N. Herbert 270 Song of the Longboat Boys John Cunningham 271 Newcastle Beer Rodney Pybus 273 ‘Our Friends in the North’ George Charlton 275 A Return to Newcastle Robyn Bolam 275 Hyem Robyn Bolam 276 Moving On Julia Darling 277 Satsumas Julia Darling 278 A Short Manifesto to My City Julia Darling 278 Old Jezzy Anna Adams 279 The Wild Life on Newcastle Town Moor Michael Roberts 280 Temperance Festival, Town Moor, Newcastle W.H. Auden 281 from Twelve Songs Richard Kell 281 Traditions W.N. Herbert 284 The Hoppings Tony Harrison 284 Divisions Fred Reed 286 Brazen Faces Kathleen Kenny 286 Grainger Market John Challis 288 Gift of the Gab Fleur Adcock 289 Street Song Anonymous 290 A riddle on the steeple of St Nicholas’s Cathedral, Newcastle Peter Hebden 290 Thin Riddle Joan Johnston 292 On Falling Up Dog Leap Stairs Rodney Pybus 292 Salvaging Rodney Pybus 294 The Side Mark Knopfler 294 Down to the Waterline Bernardette McAloon 295 Mistress of the Crown Traditional 296 The Keel Row Traditional 297 Do-li-a Alan Hull 297 Fog on the Tyne Jimmy Nail 298 Big River James Kirkup 300 Tyneside, 1936 Rodney Pybus 301 Bridging Loans Rodney Pybus 307 Passed By Rodney Pybus 308 Down the Town Robyn Bolam 309 Where Home Started Tom Pickard 310 The Devil’s Destroying Angel Exploded Barry MacSweeney 312 I Looked Down on a Child Today Kayo Chingonyi 314 Baltic Mill Jen Campbell 314 Treading Water Ellen Phethean 315 The West End Stevie Ronnie 316 Rebuilding the West Edward Chicken 317 from The Collier’s Wedding Gillian Allnutt 322 About Benwell Gillian Allnutt 323 After the Blaydon Races Geordie Ridley 324 The Blaydon Races W.N. Herbert 325 The Blazing Grater, or, The Olympic Torch Passes Through Tyneside Andy Croft 326 from Great North Richard Kell 328 Cutty Sark Race, 1986 W.N. Herbert 330 Zamyatin in Heaton Sean O’Brien 331 Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright GATESHEAD Thomas Wilson 332 from The Pitman’s Pay Joe Wilson 335 Maw Bonny Gyetside Lass Tom Pickard 336 Gateshead George Charlton 337 Gateshead Grammar Mark Robinson 338 Angel of the North Jen Campbell 339 The Angel Jen Campbell 340 Angel Metal NORTH TYNESIDE Michael Roberts 341 H.M.S. Hero James Kirkup 341 Tyne Ferry: Night Francis Scarfe 342 Night Fishing Francis Scarfe 343 Trawlers William Watson 343 When the Boat Comes In Sting 344 Island of Souls A.C. Swinburne 346 The Tyneside Widow Traditional 348 Bobby Shafto William Lisle Bowles 349 Written at Tynemouth, Northumberland… Wilfrid Gibson 349 The Coast-Watch James Kirkup 350 Balloons in Sunrise James Kirkup 351 The Harbour: Tynemouth Michael Blackburn 352 The North Sea at Tynemouth Helen Tookey 352 At Tynemouth Peter Mortimer 353 View Mike Wilkin 354 Cullercoats Fred D’Aguiar 355 Whitley Bay Sonnets U.A. Fanthorpe 359 Tyneside in Winter R.V. Bailey 360 Whitley Bay Mark Knopfler 361 Tunnel of Love SOUTH SHIELDS James Kirkup 363 The Town Where I Was Born James Kirkup 364 View from the North East Francis Scarfe 365 Miners Francis Scarfe 366 Tyne Dock Francis Scarfe 367 Tyne Dock Revisited Francis Scarfe 368 In Memoriam Francis Scarfe 369 The grotto James Kirkup 370 Marsden Rock Francis Scarfe 372 The Knocker-up James Kirkup 372 The Knocker-up James Kirkup 373 View from the Town Hall, South Shields James Kirkup 374 Spring in the Public Gardens James Kirkup 375 The Old Clothes Stall, South Shields Market James Kirkup 376 South Shields Town Hall in Snow James Kirkup 378 The Old Library, Ocean Road, South Shields Jen Campbell 379 Cross-hatch WEARSIDE Traditional 380 The Lambton Worm Lewis Carroll 382 The Walrus and the Carpenter William Martin 386 His Bright Silver William Martin 389 Song of the Cotia Lass William Martin 391 Wiramutha Helix William Martin 407 Song James Kirkup 408 Penshaw Pastoral Johnny Handle 409 Jack Crawford Ron Knowles 411 Where in This Wind Tom Pickard 411 Ship 1431 Tom Pickard 412 What Maks Makems William Martin 414 A19 Hymn Jake Campbell 418 A184 Hymn DURHAM Anonymous 419 Durham Gillian Allnutt 420 Arvo Pärt in Concert, Durham Cathedral, November 1998 William Martin 422 Durham Beatitude Tony Harrison 423 Durham James Kirkup 425 Durham Seen from the Train Katrina Porteous 426 Durham Cathedral Mark Robinson 426 Durham Cathedral S.J. Litherland 428 Durham in February Heidi Williamson 428 River Wear, Durham David Constantine 429 ‘But with a history of ECT’ David Constantine 430 The Pitman’s Garden CO. DURHAM Traditional 431 Rap ’Er te Bank Tommy Armstrong 432 The South Medomsley Strike Tommy Armstrong 433 The Durham Lock-out Wilfrid Gibson 435 The Ponies John Seed 436 from Brandon Pithouse Anne Stevenson 443 Forgotten of the Foot Anne Stevenson 445 Salter’s Gate Dora Greenwell 446 To a Remembered Stream, and a Never-Forgotten Friend Dora Greenwell 447 Lilies J.C. Grant 449 A Camp in Chopwell Woods James Kirkup 451 Chester-le-Street from the Train James Kirkup 451 View of Ferryhill Richard Dawson 451 The Ghost of a Tree Peter Armstrong 453 A695 Hymn Peter Armstrong 454 Among the Villages Gillian Allnutt 454 The Singing Pylons Cynthia Fuller 455 Esh Winning Cynthia Fuller 456 Lost Landscape Cynthia Fuller 457 Deerness Valley J.S. Cunningham 458 North George Charlton 460 Sea Coal Bill Griffiths 461 The Box-Eggs Bill Griffiths 463 The Strike Anna Woodford 464 Two Up Two Down Mark Robinson 465 Dalton Park/Murton Jock Purdon 466 The Easington Explosion Katrina Porteous 467 The Pigeon Men Eddie Gibbons 468 Early Morning, West Hartlepool, 1963 TEESDALE Sir Walter Scott 469 from Rokeby Thomas Babington Macaulay 474 A Jacobite’s Epigraph Richard Watson 475 from My Journey to Work W.H. Auden 479 The Engine House Andrew Young 479 In Teesdale Lindsay Balderson 480 High Force to Low Force Anne Hine 481 Low Force Pat Maycroft 481 Cockfield Fell in Winter Pauline Plummer 482 Whorlton Lido Anonymous 483 A Darlington rhyme John Horsley 483 Darlington Fifty Years Ago Marilyn Longstaff 485 Darlington Gordon Hodgeon 486 North Tees Epiphany Mark Robinson 487 Teesdale, Thornaby MIDDLESBROUGH Angus Macpherson 489 from Cleveland Thoughts; or, The Poetry of Toil A.E. Tomlinson 492 Furnaces Wilfrid Gibson 493 Cleveland Night Wilfrid Gibson 494 Fire Andy Croft 495 Sunlight and Heat Andy Willoughby 500 The Cold Steel Keith Porritt 500 Smelter Maureen Almond 503 The Works Mark Robinson 504 Dockside Road, South Bank Mark Robinson 505 Teesport, Redcar Jo Colley 506 Peg Powler Bob Beagrie 506 Cook, The Bridge and the Big Man Bob Beagrie 507 Occasion for Keeping Shtum Angela Readman 508 Acklam Rainbow Angela Readman 509 Easterside ’59 Angela Readman 509 Easterside ’89 Maureen Almond 510 Boro Babe Jo Colley 511 Boro Girl CLEVELAND Andy Willoughby 512 from Between Stations Pauline Plummer 513 On the Gare at Night Andy Croft 514 Redcar Sands Gordon Hodgeon 514 Potato Sellers – Cleveland Pauline Plummer 515 Saltburn FAREWELL Sean O’Brien 516 from Never Can Say Goodbye Traditional 517 Bonny at Morn 518 Acknowledgements 523 Index of writers 525 Index of places
£24.00
Bloodaxe Books Ltd A Bird Called Elaeus
Book SynopsisInA Bird Called Elaeus, poet and translator David Constantine presents a selection of poems fromThe Greek Anthology, a collection of around 4500 poems composed over more than 1500 years by around 300 authors.The Greek Anthologyis a marvellous salvage from the vast shipwreck of the Ancient World, a colossal continuity and variety from pre-classical times through Roman into Byzantine.ForA Bird Called Elaeus? his small anthology of the vast original ? David Constantine has gone particularly not just to the renowned love poems but also to poems that treat man?s dealings with the earth, his work and trades there, the creatures other than himself who inhabit it and the divinities whose care it is. Through his translations, Constantine brings already urgent poems closer to home and our drift towards the Sixth Extinction. For the Ancient World was not populated by humans harmless to Mother Earth, not at all: often they, like us, did the worst their means enabled them to do. Still there were laws.These things you must not do. Doing them nevertheless was understood as transgression of laws beyond the human laws. You offended Demeter at your peril. Understand that how we like, it?s the same now. And the peril is infinitely greater, threatens to be final, consuming the innocent with the guilty.
£10.80
The Mercier Press Ltd Illustrated Favourite Poems We Learned at School
Book Synopsis'Favourite Poems We Learned at School' and its companion volumes 'More Favourite Poems We Learned at School' and 'Favourite Poems We Learned at School as Gaeilge' are enduring bestsellers in Ireland. The illustrated edition takes forty of the most popular poems from the three volumes and juxtaposes them with classic photographs of children, schoolrooms and teachers of times past - some humorous, some quirky, some poignant. The anthology contains such gems as "The Village Blacksmith", "Daffodils", "Sea Fever" and "All Things Bright and Beautiful", which readers will remember with affection from their own schooldays. It is truly a collection to treasure.
£10.78
Poetry Wales Press Writing Motherhood: A Creative Anthology
Book Synopsis
£11.69
Oneworld Publications The World's Most Treasured Love Poems
Book SynopsisThis beautiful collection of love poems gathers together thousands of years of timeless verse from around the world. From Shakespeare to Rossetti, traditional English classics sit alongside the works of Eastern writers such as Ibn 'Arabi and Rumi, as well as lesser known gems from the indigenous peoples of Africa, Australasia, and the Americas. Exploring the many facets of love – desire, devotion, delirium, joy, and sorrow – this uniquely diverse volume offers us wisdom from across the ages and reminds us of the bonds we all share.
£9.49
Oneworld Publications Places of Poetry: Mapping the Nation in Verse
Book SynopsisPresenting the best poems from the nationwide Places of Poetry project, selected from over 7,500 entries Poetry lives in the veins of Britain, its farms and moors, its motorways and waterways, highlands and beaches. This anthology brings together time-honoured classics with some of the best new writing collected across the nation, from great monuments to forgotten byways. Featuring new writing from Kayo Chingonyi, Gillian Clarke, Zaffar Kunial, Jo Bell and Jen Hadfield, Places of Poetry is a celebration of the strangeness and variety of our islands, their rich history and momentous present.
£11.69
Bonnier Books Ltd Ink Tales: Bedtime Stories for the End of the
Book SynopsisInk Tales reinvigorates fairy tales and myths from around the world, breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes throughout. Illustrated by Inkquisitive (Amandeep Singh) in his vibrant signature Indian inks, each story is accessible and visually inspiring. Travel across oceans and discover the vengeful wrath of a River God in Kayo Chingonyi's West African tale. Soar too close to the sun with Inua Ellam's timely story of a young refugee girl. Fly to a mysterious castle inhabited by a cursed prince with Helen Mort's retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. Uncover the truth of #Bluebeard with Joelle Taylor's modernised fairy tale. Look to the constellations with Will Harris' futuristic Greek tragedy, and never, ever answer to your name in Malika Booker's Trinidadian recreation of the Dwen. Bedtime Stories for the End of the World is produced in partnership with the ground-breaking poetry podcast of the same name. The six featured poets draw on their own experience, adding a new dimension to an existing tale. 'Bedtime Stories for the End of the World' is a spoken word and poetry podcast about the power of myth and the politics of storytelling. The podcast asks some of the UK's top poets to re-imagine their favourite myths, fairy tales and legends - the stories they want to keep and protect for the future. It also involves an annual live event, creating a tangible and accessible experience for existing and new audiences. Reimagined tales include Icarus, the legend of the Zambezi River God, East of the Sun West of the Moon, Bluebeard, Philoctetes and the Trinidadian folklore figure 'douen'.
£15.29
Carcanet Press Ltd New Poetries VIII: An Anthology
Book SynopsisA Poetry Book Society Spring 2021 Special Commendation. Edited by Michael Schmidt and John McAuliffe, this is the latest in Carcanet's celebrated introductory anthology series presenting work by two dozen poets writing in English from around the world.
£13.49
Carcanet Press Ltd In the Same Light: 200 Tang Poems for Our Century
Book SynopsisWinner of the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize 2023. Shortlisted for the National Translation Award in Poetry 2023 by the American Literary Translators Association. The Poetry Book Society Spring 2022 Translation Choice. Chinese poetry is unique in world literature in that it was written for the best part of 3,000 years by exiles, and Chinese history can be read as a matter of course in the words of poets. In this collection from the Tang Dynasty are poems of war and peace, flight and refuge but above all they are plain-spoken, everyday poems; classics that are everyday timeless, a poetry conceived "to teach the least and the most, the literacy of the heart in a barbarous world," says the translator. C.D. Wright has written of Wong May's work that it is "quirky, unaffectedly well-informed, capacious, and unpredictable in [its] concerns and procedures," qualities which are evident too in every page of her new book, a translation of Du Fu and Li Bai and Wang Wei, and many others whose work is less well known in English. In a vividly picaresque afterword, Wong May dwells on the defining characteristics of these poets, and how they lived and wrote in dark times. This translator's journal is accompanied and prompted by a further marginal voice, who is figured as the rhino: "The Rhino in Tang China held a special place," she writes, "much like the unicorn in medieval Europe - not as conventional as the phoenix or the dragon but a magical being; an original spirit", a fitting guide to China's murky, tumultuous Middle Ages, that were also its Golden Age of Poetry, and to this truly original book of encounters, whose every turn is illuminating and revelatory.
£16.99
Carcanet Press Ltd PN Review 279
Book SynopsisThe September-October 2024 issue of PN Review, one of the most outstanding poetry journals of our time.
£10.79
Renard Press Ltd Kinship: Poems Exploring Belonging
Book SynopsisConcepts of belonging and community have constantly evolving definitions, and have been at the centre of fierce debate in recent years. The first twenty-three years of the new millennium have seen a rise in rhetoric aimed at those without the voice to argue back, and waves of toxic abuse have proliferated – and genocide. How relevant, then, to unite and raise our voices, to celebrate the rich tapestry of humanity, and to explore the labels we use to identify and express ourselves. Kinship is a poetry anthology that seeks to provide a platform for marginalised voices, and to celebrate the great diversity and rich variation in the identities of people from around the world and from a huge cross-section of walks of life.
£7.99
Renard Press Ltd Third Space
Book SynopsisBritish South Asian poetry is flourishing throughout the UK, but it is still not being amply reflected in mainstream publishing. The Third Space project was conceived by award winning artist and poet, Suman Gujral, and has its eye on filling this gap and celebrating the best of the South Asian poetry scene.
£9.50
Taproot Press All the Way Home: 30 Years of Rock Trust
Book SynopsisNearly 10,000 young people in Scotland are homeless. Some we see on the streets, thousands more are 'hidden' - sofa surfing, in B&Bs and living in unsafe homes. Every one of them has their own story to tell. For 30 years Rock Trust has been listening to their stories and helping them find a home. In All the Way Home, some of Scotland's leading authors have come together with young people to mark this anniversary of Rock Trust's urgent, ongoing work. Across first-hand accounts, poetry and fiction, this anthology brings to life the visible and invisible realities of home and homelessness, of family and belonging.
£11.69
Amber Books Ltd Rumi Illustrated
Book SynopsisJalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207–73) was a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic originally from Greater Khorasan in Iran. This Chinese-bound volume offers a selection of his many poems with a variety of themes, including love, marriage, life and death, passion and mysticism, as well as his religious collection, Rubaiyat, and his long poem, Masnavi, one of the most influential works of Sufism, an Islamic form of mysticism. Rumi's reach transcends national borders and ethnic divisions: his poetry has influenced not only Persian literature, but also the literary traditions of the Ottoman Turkish, Chagatai, Urdu, Bengali and Pashto languages.Table of ContentsIntroductionPoems:A Cry to the Beloved The Prince of the Fair Mortality and Immortality Remember God and Forget Self Thou Art the Soul of the World The Moon-Soul and the Sea Our Desert hath No Bound The Divine Friend When I Die The Journey to the Beloved The World gave thee False Clues At Morning Tide Thou and IFrom the Masnavi:The Prince and the Handmaid The Lion and the Beasts The Sufi’s Beast The Falcon and the Owls The King and his Two Slaves The Man who made a Pet of a Bear The Travellers who ate the Young Elephant The Jackal who Pretended to be a Peacock The Elephant in a Dark Room Mahmud and Ayaz The Lion, the Fox, and the Ass The Three Travellers
£23.99
Everyman Sonnets: From Dante to the Present
Book Synopsis‘‘A sonnet is a moment’s monument,’’ said Dante Gabriel Rossetti in a sonnet about sonnets. The sonnets in this collection – whether they capture moments of perception, recognition, despair or celebration – reveal how great an amount of feeling, insight and experience can be concentrated into a mere fourteen lines. Here are classics such as Milton’s ‘‘On His Blindness’’, Yeats’s ‘‘Leda and the Swan’’ and Frost’s ‘‘The Oven Bird’’, juxtaposed with the mischievous wit of Rupert Brooke’s ‘‘Sonnet Reversed’’, the lyric defiance of Mona Van Duyn’s ‘‘Caring for Surfaces’’ and the comic poignancy of Philip Larkin’s ‘‘To Failure’’. From the lovelorn laments of Dante and Petrarch to the artful heights of Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare, from the masterpieces of Wordsworth and Keats to the innovations of Elizabeth Bishop, Wallace Stevens and James Merrill, the sonnet has proved both versatile and enduring. This delightful anthology displays the incredible range and power of the verse form that has inspired poets across the centuries.
£10.44
Everyman Poems Of The Sea
Book SynopsisThroughout history, poets have felt the ancient pull of the sea, exploring the full range of mankind's nautical fears, dreams, and longings. The colorful legends of the sea-pirates and mermaids, phantom ships and the sunken city of Atlantis-have inspired as many imaginations as have the realities of lighthouses and shipwrecks, of icebergs and frothing foam and seaweed.This marvelous collection includes classics old and new, from Homer and Milton to Plath and Merwin. Here are Tennyson's seductive sea-fairies next to Poe's beloved Annabel Lee. Here is Coleridge's darkly brooding "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" alongside the grandeur of Shakespeare's "Full Fathom Five." And here is Masefield's "I must go down to the seas again" alongside Cavafy's "Ithaka" and Stevens's "The Idea of Order at Key West." In the wide variety of lyrics collected here-sonnets and sea chanteys, ballads and hymns and prayers-we feel the encompassing power of our planet's restless
£10.80
Everyman Poems of the American South
Book SynopsisThe arc of poetry of the South, from slave songs to Confederate hymns to Civil War ballads, from Reconstruction turmoil to the Agrarian movement to the dazzling poetry of the New South, is richly varied and historically vibrant. No other region of the United States has been as mythologized as the South, nor contained as many fascinating, beguiling, and sometimes infuriating contradictions. Poems of the American South includes poems both by Southerners and by famous observers of the South who hailed from elsewhere. These range from Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, and Francis Scott Key through Langston Hughes, Robert Penn Warren, Wallace Stevens, Elizabeth Bishop, James Dickey, and Donald Justice, and include a host of living poets as well: Wendell Berry, Rita Dove, Sandra Cisneros, Yusef Komunyakaa, Naomi Shihab Nye, C. D. Wright, Natasha Trethewey, and many more. Organized thematically, the anthology places poems from past centuries in fruitful dialogue with a diverse array of modern voices who are redefining the South with a verve that is reinvigorating American poetry as a whole.
£9.49
Everyman Poems of Gratitude
Book SynopsisFor centuries poets in all the world's cultures have offered eloquent thanks and praise for the earth and its people. Both an emotion and a conscious practice, gratitude is a cherishing of what is over what has been or could be. It celebrates the joy in our lives while acknowledging the sorrows and losses that give that joy its keenness. The voices collected here range from Horace to Herrick, from Wordsworth and Keats, Yeats and Frost, to Czeslaw Milosz, Constantine Cavafy, Primo Levi, Langston Hughes, Anne Sexton, Nikki Giovanni, and many many more. Devotional lyrics drawn from the major religious traditions offer their perspectives, alongside poetic tributes to autumn and the harvest season that draw our attention to nature's bounty and poignant beauty as winter approaches.
£9.49
Everyman The Language of Flowers: Selected by Jane
Book SynopsisThe language of flowers is as old as language itself. In the earliest poetry familiar plants were used to represent simple emotions, ideas, or states of mind: love, hope, despair, fidelity, solitude, beauty, mortality. Over time these associations entwined with myth and legend, with religious symbolism, folk and herbal lore. By the early 19th century the 'Language of Flora' had become increasingly refined, especially in England and America, where sentimental flower books listing flower meanings and illustrating them with verse were perennial bestsellers. The Everyman Language of Flowers without sacrificing the charm of its Victorian predecessors aims to provide extended, updated and rather more robust floral anthology for the 21st century, presenting poetry from ancient Greece to contemporary Britain and America, and spanning the world from Cuba to Korea, Russia to Zimbabwe. Here are Rumi and Rilke on the rose; Herrick and Louise Glück on the lily; Chaucer, Emily Dickinson and Jon Silkin on the daisy; Mary Robinson and Ted Hughes on the snowdrop; Lorenzo de Medici, John Clare and Alice Oswald on the violet; Hugo and Roethke on carnations; Ovid and Goethe on poppies; Blake and Eugenio Montale on the sunflower; Christina Rossetti on heartsease and forget-me-nots; Emily Brontë on harebells and heather, Seamus Heaney on lupins, Pasternak on night-scented stock... Eastern cultures, rich in flower associations, are well represented: there are Tang poems celebrating chrysanthemums and peonies, Zen poems about orchids and lotus flowers, poems about jasmine and marigolds from India, roses, tulips and narcissi from Persia, the Ottoman empire and the Arabic world. Flowers are arranged by season, with roses and lilies in a section of their own. In a final section poets comment directly or indirectly on the language of flowers itself. The book concludes with a selected glossary drawn from several celebrated Victorian collections.
£9.99
Everyman Poems About Trees
Book SynopsisFor thousands of years humans have variously worshipped trees, made use of them, admired them, and destroyed them— and poets have long chronicled the relationship. In this collection, Robert Frost’s “Birches,” Marianne Moore’s “The Camperdown Elm,” Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “Binsey Poplars,” and Zbigniew Herbert’s “Sequoia” stand tall beside Eugenio Montale’s “The Lemon Trees,” Yves Bonnefoy’s “The Apples,” Bertolt Brecht’s “The Plum Tree,” D. H. Lawrence’s “The Almond Tree,” and A. E. Housman’s “Loveliest of Trees.” Whether showing their subjects being planted or felled, cherished or lamented, towering in forests or ?owering in backyards, the poems collected here pay lyrical tribute to these majestic beings with whom we share the earth.
£10.44
Everyman No Place Like Home: Poems
Book SynopsisPlace of refuge, place where we can be ourselves; place we long to escape from, place where we are confronted by absence and loneliness; shabby downtown apartment or idyllic country cottage. Like it or loathe it, home is where we do most of our living. Home is, of course, many things to many poets. It is Billy Collins's favourite armchair and Imtiaz Dharker's 'Living Space' in the slums of Mumbai. It is Wordsworth's 'dear Valley' of Grasmere, and Philip Larkin's Coventry, that place where nothing so famously happens. It may be somewhere we long for, perhaps unattainably: Ovid and Mahmoud Darwish lament their home countries, Kapka Kassabova seeks 'a house we can never find', while Jules Supervielle is 'Homesick for the Earth'.There is an abundance of domestic life. Attend a miserable breakfast chez Jacques Prévert; observe Wendy Cope and partner happily 'Being Boring'. Cut to Anna Barbauld's washing-day, Marilyn Nelson dusting, Buson mending his clothes and Fiona Wright contending with a Tupperware party. Peep in on Amy Lowell in the bath and John Donne in bed, Auden in the privy and Joy Harjo at the kitchen table. Here are removals and homecomings, neighbours good and bad. Inevitably, after a year of enforced domesticity, some lockdown thoughts (Anna McDonald, Pauline Prior-Pitt); Mary Oliver's dream house, Naomi Shihab Nye's homes where children live, the far-from-safe houses of U. A. Fanthorpe, and some final reflections on the idea of a dwelling place from Rumi, Emily Dickinson, John Burnside, Vinita Agrawal, Derek Walcott, Les Murray and Iman Mersal. It may not always be sweet, but there is certainly No Place Like Home.
£10.80
The Lilliput Press Ltd The Indignant Muse: Poetry and Songs of the Irish
Book SynopsisThis landmark work contains a remarkable selection of 560 of the thousands of songs and poems created during, and reflecting upon, the most extraordinary decade of Ireland’s history. This opened with the Dublin Lockout of 1913 and ended with the post-independence civil war, embracing World War I, the Rising of 1916, and the Anglo-Irish war. The Indignant Muse also includes 177 musical airs and 136 illustrations.Trade Review‘Terry Moylan’s compilation surpasses in scale, variety and historical interest anything that’s been attempted to date … the glory of the collection is the large number of items published here for the first time … a herculean effort by a lifetime collector of songs with an encyclopaedic knowledge of his material.’ — from the Foreword by Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh
£22.50
Peepal Tree Press Ltd The Sea Needs No Ornament/ El mar no necesita
Book SynopsisThe Sea Needs No Ornament/ El mar no necesita ornamento is the first bilingual anthology of contemporary poetry by women writers of the English and Spanish-speaking Caribbean and its diasporas to be curated in more than two decades. The anthology presents a selection of work by poets from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and from various Anglophone Caribbean islands and the Diaspora. Each poem is presented first in the original, followed by the translation. Excitingly, the majority of poets have not yet been widely translated or included in a bilingual anthology of this scope.Trade Review“This book gives us some of the most passionate and insightful writing around, in any language… as I look at the translated voices here I am both moved and transformed by the ways they seem to address the devastation of the present moment… Spanish-speaking poets are presented with wonderful English-language poets. The result is a first-rate conversation between poetics, a marvel.”Ilya Kaminsky.
£13.49
Birlinn General A Gathering: A Personal Anthology of Scottish
Book SynopsisA poem does not have to be famous to be cherished. The best-known poems of Robert Burns have been loved by countless people over the years, but there are other poems that may be largely unknown that will mean a great deal to the few who are familiar with them. This anthology is a personal curation and not just a simple collection of poems. Each poem, handpicked by Alexander McCall Smith, leads the reader from one poem to the another. Intimate in tone, the editor shares the pleasure he finds in these poems through short epigraphs written for each piece.Trade Review'Lesser known works by Scottish poets have been hand-picked to show the divers and passionate voice of the country' * Scots Magazine *‘A haunting personal mixtape that gives voice to the ghosts of Scottish poetry. The personal nature of the collection allows McCall Smith to shine a light on lesser-known works. Every reader will find something to latch onto' * Herald on Sunday *'A beautifully curated, timeless collection' * Woman’s Weekly *‘Sit back - there is certainly plenty here to enjoy’ * Scotsman *'The true excitement of discovery lies in the lesser known gems, [such as] Tessa Ransford's Nocturne Lewis. There are poems that seep Scotland through their very pores. A wonderful anthology' * The Wee Review *
£9.49
Bloodaxe Books Ltd Classical Women Poets
Book SynopsisFragmented and forgotten, the women poets of ancient Greece and Rome have long been overlooked by translators and scholars. Yet to Antipater of Thessalonica, writing in the first century AD, these were the 'earthly Muses' whose poetic skills rivalled those of their heavenly namesakes. Today only a fraction of their work survives - lyrical, witty, often innovative, and always moving - offering surprising insights into the closed world of women in antiquity, from childhood friendships through love affairs and marriage to motherhood and bereavement. Josephine Balmer's translations breathe new life into long-lost works by over a dozen poets from early Greece to the late Roman empire, including Sappho, Corinna, Erinna and Sulpicia, as well as inscriptions, folk-songs and even graffiti. Each poet is introduced by a brief bibliographical note, and where necessary her poems are annotated to guide readers through unfamiliar mythological or historical references. In an illuminating introduction, Josephine Balmer examines the nature of women's poetry in antiquity, as well as the problems (and pleasures) of translating such fragmentary works. Classical Women Poets is a complete collection for anyone interested in women's literature, the ancient world, and - above all - poetry. It is a companion volume to Josephine Balmer's edition Sappho: Poems and Fragments, also published by Bloodaxe.
£11.07
Bloodaxe Books Ltd The Poetry Cure
Book Synopsis'This book of poems is for all of us who go through illness, deal with doctors, hospitals, and experiences such as bereavement and ageing, and who struggle to find language to describe the suffering we have to go through. Medical language baffles and alienates us. It's a harsh, unforgiving vocabulary that often seems to bear no relationship to our own emotional predicament. In this uplifting anthology we see how poetry can give us metaphors and images to help us understand our feelings and communicate them to people around us. This is a book that should be in every waiting-room, and should be by the bed of every GP and consultant. It may inspire you to write poetry, and also help you to find order in the chaos of ill health. By giving us words, poetry can help cure us.' – Julia Darling & Cynthia FullerTrade ReviewWhen we're ill we're forced to recognise that we've become another person - unfamiliar, frail and mortal. The adjustment is painful and it's well-nigh impossible to find the words to describe how alien our sick self seems. These poems magically supply the images and emotions that help us to accept our inexpressible vulnerability. -- Dr Miriam Stoppard
£9.49
Bloodaxe Books Ltd The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets
Book SynopsisJeet Thayil's definitive selection covers 55 years of Indian poetry in English. It is the first anthology to represent not just the major poets of the past half-century - the canonical writers who have dominated Indian poetry and publishing since the 1950s - but also the different kinds of poetry written by an extraordinary range of younger poets who live in many countries as well as in India. It is a groundbreaking global anthology of 70 poets writing in a common language responding to shared traditions, different cultures and contrasting lives in the changing modern world.Thayil's starting-point is Nissim Ezekiel, the first important modern Indian poet after Tagore, who published his first collection in London in 1952. Aiming for "verticality" rather than chronology, Thayil's anthology charts a poetry of astonishing volume and quality. It pays homage to major influences, including Ezekiel, Dom Moraes and Arun Kolatkar, who died within months of each other in 2004. It rediscovers forgotten figures such as Lawrence Bantleman and Gopal Honnalgere, and it serves as an introduction to the poets of the future.The book also shows that many Indian poets were mining the rich vein of 'chutnified' (Salman Rushdie's word) Indian English long before novelists like Rushdie and Upamanyu Chatterjee started using it in their fiction. It explains why Pankaj Mishra and Amit Chaudhuri have said that Indian poetry in English has a longer, more distinguished tradition than Indian fiction in English. The Indian poet now lives and works in New York, New Delhi, London, Itanagar, Bangalore, Berkeley, Goa, Sheffield, Lonavala, Montana, Aarhus, Allahabad, Hongkong, Montreal, Melbourne, Calcutta, Connecticut, Cuttack and various other global corridors. While some may have little in common in terms of culture (a number of the poets have never lived in India), this anthology shows how they are all bound by the intimate histories of a shared English language.Trade Review'The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Indian Poets, edited by Jeet Thayil, is a labour of love that gathers the Indian poets writing in English from the past and the present, from within India, from outside. While there may not be a firm geographical location to the experience of being an Indian poet, there is certainly a firm emotional one' – Kiran Desai, Guardian Books of the Year
£15.31
Bloodaxe Books Ltd Out of Bounds: British Black & Asian Poets
Book SynopsisFrom Aberdeen to the Isle of Wight, Out of Bounds is a newly charted map of Britain as viewed by its black and Asian poets. It takes the reader on a riveting, sensory journey through Scotland, England and Wales, showing the whole country from a fresh perspective. This extensive and ground-breaking anthology – with its sudden forks in the road, and its roads not taken – stops off in the Highlands and Islands, skirts the North East coast from Whitley Bay to the sands of Bridlington, wanders lonely through the Lake District and Yorkshire, climbs the mountains of Wales before descending to the Black Country and Southern England. Along the way it takes in lochs and landmarks from Glasgow’s George Square and the Angel of the North to the London Eye and the Long Man of Wilmington. If alienation, unbelonging and dislocation remain key aspects of black and Asian experiences in Britain, what such terms simultaneously conceal are the rich and manifold attachments to place, region, city and landscape offered in Out of Bounds. The poems question the idea of an easy or singular identity, nimbly dealing with the triple bind of ethnic, geographical and poetic belonging. An alternative A to Z of the nation, a new poetic guide, the book enables us to look again at the UK’s local and regional landscapes and the poets who pass through them. Out of Bounds is a definitive anthology that brings together new and established black and Asian writers and places them firmly on the map of what is great and not so great about Britain. Includes: Shanta Acharya, John Agard, Patience Agbabi, Moniza Alvi, James Berry, Jean 'Binta' Breeze, Vahni Capildeo, Merle Collins, Fred D'Aguiar, David Dabydeen, Imtiaz Dharker, Bernardine Evaristo, Khadijah Ibrahiim, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jackie Kay, Tariq Latif, Sheree Mack, Jack Mapanje, E.A. Markham, Daljit Nagra, Grace Nichols, Louisa Adjoa Parker, Michelle Scally-Clarke, Seni Seneviratne, John Siddique, Lemn Sissay, Dorothea Smartt, Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, Benjamin Zephaniah, and many others.Trade Review'This book really redraws the map of Britain: away with taxonomies of hurt - welcome cartographies of worth' - Fred D'AguiarTable of ContentsSCOTLAND Raman Mundair 28 Shetland Muse Raman Mundair 28 Stories fae da Shoormal Raman Mundair 31 Sheep Hill, Fair Isle Maya Chowdhry 31 Hurry Curry Sudesh Mishra 33 Suva; Skye Rizwan Akhtar 33 Aberdonian winter Jackie Kay 34 Granite Kukomo Rocks 35 Shopping Trip Tesco in Fife Roger Robinson 37 Sleep Roger Robinson 38 Conversion Maud Sulter 39 Scots Triptych John Agard 42 The Ascent of John Edmonstone Sudeep Sen 43 Over May Day Irfan Merchant 44 The World Is More Real Than It Is Imtiaz Dharker 45 Campsie Fells Tariq Latif 46 Western Ferry Leila Aboulela 47 When I First Came to Scotland… Maya Chowdhry 48 Four Corners Imtiaz Dharker 49 Being good in Glasgow Imtiaz Dharker 50 from Lascar Johnnie 1930: Lascar Jackie Kay 51 George Square Suhayl Saadi 51 from paradise gardens carpet Irfan Merchant 55 Address Tae Chicken Tikka Masala Gerry Singh 57 India Gate Gerry Singh 58 Ladhar Bheinn Vahni Capildeo 59 Shell Tariq Latif 60 After Lights over Girvan Bashabi Fraser 61 Do’ care Bashabi Fraser 62 Tartan & Turban George Murevesi 62 Pleas Grace Nichols 63 Queen of Sheba replies to Kathleen Jamie Shampa Ray 66 My India Tawona Sithole 67 climbing hills Maud Sulter 70 Flight Jackie Kay 71 In my country Irfan Merchant 71 The Indian Upon Scotland Imtiaz Dharker 72 How to Cut a Pomegranate NORTH Fred D’Aguiar 74 from Sonnets from Whitley Bay Sheree Mack 76 Bonny Baby Contest Kayo Chingonyi 77 Baltic Mill Grace Nichols 78 Angel of the North Cheryl Martin 78 Driving Back From Durham Kayo Chingonyi 80 Denouement Jack Mapanje 81 The Seashells Of Bridlington North Beach Grace Nichols 82 Outward from Hull Lorna Goodison 83 At the Keswick Museum Lorna Goodison 84 To Mr William Wordsworth, Distributor of Stamps for Westmoreland Jackie Kay 86 Windows, Lakes E.A. Markham 87 Epilogue Anthony Kellman 88 Roofs of Yorkshire Seni Seneviratne 89 Frame Yourself Seni Seneviratne 89 Yorkshire Childhood Anita Sivakumaran 90 Ice and Ice Age R. Parthasarathy 91 A Northern City Jack Mapanje 92 After Celebrating Our Asylum Stories At West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds Khadijah Ibrahiim 93 from A Snapshot History of Leeds: Michelle Scally-Clarke 97 Granny Betty Scally Bates Seni Seneviratne 98 A Wider View Vahni Capildeo 99 from Winter: II. Harewood Estate Dreadlockalien 99 Fires burn in Bradford, Rockstone fling innah Oldham Linton Kwesi Johnson 100 It Dread Inna Inglan Tariq Mehmood 102 Mined Memories Tajinder Singh Hayer 103 Holy Man Tajinder Singh Hayer 104 A Seasonal Picture Merle Collins 105 Visiting Yorkshire – Again Daljit Nagra 107 Raju t’Wonder Dog! Merle Collins 108 For the Lumb Bank Group, December 1991 Merle Collins 109 The Lumb Bank Children John Lyons 110 Weather Vane John Agard 111 Caribbean Eye Over Yorkshire Daljit Nagra 112 Parade’s End Daljit Nagra 113 Darling & Me Marie Guise Williams 114 My Mother’s Porch #1: First Love at 15 E.A. Markham 115 A Politically-Correct Marriage E.A. Markham 116 To My Mother, the Art Critic Debjani Chatterjee 117 Reason for Coming John Lyons 118 Drinking up the Drizzle Jackie Kay 118 85th Birthday Poem for Dad Dorothea Smartt 119 Bringing It All Back Home Dorothea Smartt 120 A Few Words for Samboo Dorothea Smartt 121 Today on Sunderland Point SuAndi 121 Sambo’s Grave Bernardine Evaristo 121 from Soul Tourists Nabila Jameel 124 The Island in Preston Nabila Jameel 124 A Book Closer to Home Lemn Sissay 125 This Train SuAndi 125 Bolton Safari John Siddique 126 A Map of Rochdale John Siddique 127 Industrial Landscape Jeff Caffrey 127 A Brief History of Manny (2006) Romesh Gunesekera 128 Turning Point Lemn Sissay 130 Flags Lemn Sissay 131 Mill Town and Africa Raman Mundair 131 Name Journeys Segun Lee-French 132 So many undone Segun Lee-French 133 Rain Kei Miller 134 The only thing far away Shamshad Khan 135 pot Cheryl Martin 137 The Coffee Bearer Pete Kalu 138 Manchester Pete Kalu 138 The Poet’s Song Maya Chowdhry 139 My Eyes D.S. Marriott 140 The Day Ena Died Tariq Latif 141 MoonMen John Siddique 142 Jali Benjamin Zephaniah 143 Master Master Moniza Alvi 144 Arrival 1946 Bernardine Evaristo 145 from Lara: 1949: Taiwo Jack Mapanje 147 The First Train to Liverpool (Enfield: Liverpool 1, Stoke 0, 1972) Levi Tafari 148 Toxteth Where I Reside Imtiaz Dharker 149 Speech balloon Imtiaz Dharker 151 Mersey Crossing WALES Patience Agbabi 154 North(West)ern Patience Agbabi 154 Postmod: Eric Ngalle Charles 155 A Mountain and a Sea Tariq Latif 156 Trefor John Siddique 157 One New Year’s Eve Aimé Kongolo 158 Non-toxic trust Maggie Harris 158 Cwmpengraig, place of stones Maggie Harris 159 Llamas, Cwmpengraig Tinashe Mushakavanhu 160 The Green Man Festival Moniza Alvi 161 Spring on the Hillside Grace Nichols 161 Opening Your Book Moniza Alvi 162 Luckbir Leon Charles 163 ‘Tiger Bay’ Heart of Wales Marsden Falcon 164 ‘It’s a big ask…’ Tishani Doshi 165 Memory of Wales Maggie Harris 166 Montbretia, Wales Sadi Husain 167 Not in India Raman Mundair 168 Welsh Postcard Labi Siffre 169 from An Alien in Cymru: Derek Walcott 171 from Midsummer: XXXV MIDLANDS Kimberly Trusty 174 New Vic Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, ring bell for service Romesh Gunesekera 175 Frontliners D.S. Marriott 176 The Ghost of Averages Panya Banjoko 177 Arriving Michelle Hubbard 178 Take the girl out of Notts, but you can’t take Notts out of the girl! Sandeep Parmar 179 Archive for a Daughter Rommi Smith 182 Night River Hazel Malcolm 182 Blues in the Black Country Martin Glynn 183 Highfields Style Carol Leeming 185 Highfields Fantasia Carol Leeming 186 Valley Dreamers Roshan Doug 187 Flash of Independence Roshan Doug 188 Sound Bites Sue Brown 189 Birmingham Moqapi Selassie 190 Tellin de stori Roi Kwabena 192 From Location:Re Roy McFarlane 193 I found my father’s love letters Benjamin Zephaniah 194 The Big Bang Benjamin Zephaniah 196 Knowing Me Kimberly Trusty 198 Alcester Road, Moseley, 50 Bus Roshan Doug 199 Slow Motion Derek Walcott 200 from Tiepolo’s Hound Derek Walcott 202 from Midsummer: XXIII, XXXVI, L Mahendra Solanki 204 In a Jar David Dabydeen 205 Coolie Odyssey Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze 209 Mi Duck Benjamin Zephaniah 210 I Have a Scheme SOUTH Moniza Alvi 214 Rural Scene Judith Lal 214 Kestrel Judith Lal 215 Swallowtail Day Vahni Capildeo 216 Monolithicity Debjani Chatterjee 217 Visiting E.M. Forster Hannah Lowe 218 Sausages Moniza Alvi 219 Go Back to England Patience Agbabi 222 Weights and Measures and Finding a Rhyme for Orange Christian Campbell 223 Ballad of Oxfraud Vahni Capildeo 226 Night in the Gardens Vahni Capildeo 227 La Poetessa Saradha Soobrayen 228 On the water meadows Shanta Acharya 228 The Vulnerable Plot of Green Shanta Acharya 229 Aspects of Westonbirt Arboretum Fred D’Aguiar 230 At the Grave of the Unknown African Kwame Dawes 232 Bristol Ralph Hoyte 234 Chew Stoke Derek Walcott 234 from Midsummer: XXXIX Claude McKay 235 London Una Marson 236 from Spring in England George Lamming 236 Swans Wole Soyinka 238 Telephone Conversation Kamau Brathwaite 239 from The Emigrants Merle Collins 243 Soon Come Roger Robinson 245 Parallel Fred D’Aguiar 246 Home Fred D’Aguiar 247 Domestic Flight Gabriela Pearse 248 Grenada… Heathrow… London Rajat Kumar Biswas 249 Cambridge Zhana 250 Apartheid Britain 1985 (Or Kenwood Ladies Pond) Ashna Sarkar 251 99 Flakes and The End of Something Gopi Warrier 252 Cricket at Lords Daljit Nagra 253 Our Town with the Whole of India Daljit Nagra 254 University E.A. Markham 255 Ladbroke Grove, ’58 Andrew Salkey 256 Notting Hill Carnival, 1975 Benjamin Zephaniah 257 Call It What You Like! Creswell Durrant 259 Colours Nii Ayikwei Parkes 259 A Familiar Voice at the V&A Museum Nii Ayikwei Parkes 261 Common/wealth John Figueroa 261 Hartlands/Heartlands John Lyons 264 Home is Weyever Yuh Is Joy Russell 265 On the Tube Louise Bennett 268 De Victory Parade James Berry 270 Beginning in a City, 1948 James Berry 272 Wanting to Hear Big Ben James Berry 273 Roomseeker in London James Berry 273 Migrant in London Kwame Dawes 274 Umpire at the Portrait Gallery Kwame Dawes 276 Birthright Moniza Alvi 278 The Double City Anthony Joseph 279 Who passed on Haymarket, winter night? Anthony Joseph 280 Blues for Brother Curtis Claude McKay 281 La Paloma in London Kayo Chingonyi 282 Andrew’s Corner Kayo Chingonyi 283 Berwick Street Lorna Goodison 284 Bam Chi Chi La La: London, 1969 Mahmood Jamal 284 from Two Women Jay Bernard 285 F12 Pete Kalu 286 Old Radicals Siddhartha Bose 287 Sex and the City Siddhartha Bose 288 Swansong, Mile End Lizzy Dijeh 288 Stratford City Shamshad Khan 290 Isosceles Nick Makoha 291 Promise To My Unborn Son Fred D’Aguiar 292 I Buried My Father a Complete Stranger E.A. Markham 292 At the Redland Hotel, Stamford Hill John Agard 294 Toussaint L’Ouverture Acknowledges Wordsworth’s Sonnet to Toussaint L’Ouverture Patience Agbabi 295 The London Eye Malika Booker 295 Hungerford Bridge Mahmood Jamal 296 Apples and Mangoes John Agard 297 Listen Mr Oxford don Roger Robinson 299 The Wedding Picture Marsha Prescod 300 Community Policing Desmond Johnson 301 Mass Jobe Desmond Johnson 304 Ole Charlie Boy Linton Kwesi Johnson 307 Five Nights of Bleeding Linton Kwesi Johnson 309 Di Great Insohrekshan Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze 311 The Wife of Bath speaks in Brixton Market Jacob Sam-La Rose 314 After Lazerdrome: McDonalds, Peckham Rye… Inua Ellams 315 GuerillaGardenWritingPoem Amryl Johnson 316 Circle of Thorns Kimberly Trusty 317 Fireworks, New Cross Road, 1981 John Agard 320 The Embodiment Maggie Harris 321 Timeline Whitstable Daljit Nagra 322 Look We Have Coming to Dover! Grace Nichols 323 Seven Sisters Grace Nichols 324 Hurricane Hits England Grace Nichols 325 Long Man Louisa Adjoa Parker 327 Forest-child
£17.00
Bloodaxe Books Ltd Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson and
Book SynopsisThe Essential Haiku brings together Robert Hass's beautifully fresh translations of the three great masters of the Japanese haiku tradition: Matsuo Basho (1644-94), the ascetic and seeker, and the haiku poet most familiar to English readers; Yosa Buson (1716-83), the artist, a painter renowned for his visually expressive poetry; and Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), the humanist, whose haiku are known for their poignant or ironic wit. Each haiku master's section of the book is prefaced with an eloquent and informative introduction by Robert Hass, followed by a selection of over 100 poems and then by other poetry or prose by the poet, including journals and nature writing. Opening with Hass's superb introductory essay on haiku, the book concludes with a section devoted to Basho's writings and conversations on poetry. The seventeen-syllable haiku form is rooted in a Japanese tradition of close observation of nature, of making poetry from subtle suggestion. Each haiku is a meditation, a centring, a crystalline moment of realisation. Reading them has a way of bringing about calm and peace within the reader. The symbolism of the seasons and the Japanese habit of mind blend together in these poems to create an alchemy of reflection that is unsurpassed in literature. Infused by its great practitioners with the spirit of Zen Buddhism, the haiku served as an example of the power of direct observation to the first generation of American modernist poets like Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams as well as an example of spontaneity and Zen alertness to the new poets of post-war America and Britain. Universal in its appeal, Robert Hass's The Essential Haiku is the definitive introduction to haiku and its greatest poets, and has been a bestseller in America for twenty years. 'I know that for years I didn't see how deeply personal these poems were or, to say it another way, how much they have the flavour - Basho might have said "the scent" - of particular human life, because I had been told and wanted to believe that haiku were never subjective. I think it was D.H. Lawrence who said the soul can get to heaven in one leap but that, if it does, it leaves a demon in its place. Better to sink down through the level of these poems - their attention to the year, their ideas about it, the particular human consciousness the poems reflect, Basho's profound loneliness and sense of suffering, Buson's evenness of temper, his love for the materials of art and for the colour and shape of things, Issa's pathos and comedy and anger' - Robert Hass.Table of Contents9 Introduction I. BASHO 21 Matsuo Basho 27 Poems 65 ‘The Hut of the Phantom Dwelling’ (tr. Burton Watson) 69 The Saga Diary (prose tr. Etsuko Terasaki) II. BUSON 85 Yosa Buson 91 Poems 129 Long Poems 137 from New Flower Picking (tr. Yuki Sawa & Edith M. Shiffert) III. ISSA 145 Kobayashi Issa 149 Poems 185 from Journal of My Father’s Last Days (tr. Robert N. Huey) 205 from A Year of My Life (prose tr. Nobuyuki Yausa) IV. BASHO ON POETRY 219 Learn from the Pine 225 from Kyorai’s Conversations with Basho (tr.Jonathan Keene) 237 Notes 292 A Note on Haikai, Hokku, and Haiku 301 A Note on Translation 311 Further Reading 316 Acknowledgements 317 Copyright Acknowledgments 320 Biographical note
£17.00
Poetry Wales Press Women's Work: Modern Women Poets Writing in
Book SynopsisAn anthology of women''s poetry in English featuring poets born from 1850 to the present. The poems appear under themed subject headings and reflect women''s lives. Authors from the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean are included. With classic poems by Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath to the most recent prize-winners like Alice Oswald and Carol Ann Duffy.
£13.49
Everyman Marriage Poems
Book SynopsisSome of the poets included in this anthology: Theocritus, Edmund Spenser, Edward Lear, Robert Browning, Thomas Hardy, John Donne, Philip Larkin, Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, Rossetti, Shelley and Kipling...
£9.49
Everyman Roman Odes, Elegies & Epigrams
Book SynopsisThe great Roman poets of Antiquity wrote some of the most compelling lyrical poetry of all time, to be read privately but also on occasion to be performed publicly on the field of victory, at a banquet or at a public festival. With a freshness that belie the nearly two thousand years that separate us Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Propertius and Catullus write movingly of the pleasures of love, of wine, of nature and the joys of pastoral life, a city and its contrasts, of friendship and of death. This edition brings together an exceptional selection with translations by Christpoher Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Abraham Cowley, Robert Herrick, John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Samuel Johnson, Alfred Tennyson, A. E. Houseman and Rudyard Kipling. This edition is illustrated with the magnificent classical engravings of Johannes Pine's great edition of Horace of 1737. Happy the man, and happy he alone, He who can call today his own; He who, secure within, can say Tomorrow do thy worst for I have lived today. Horace's ode iii, tr. by John Dryen
£9.49
Carcanet Press Ltd New Caribbean Poetry
Book SynopsisThere is a greeting used in urban America, 'What's good?', which seems to go beyond a mere 'How are you?' or 'What's happening?' to demand an optimistic response. This anthology seeks to rectify both these oversights by showcasing established Caribbean poets from Jamaica, the Bahamas, Barbados, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and elsewhere.
£11.66
Green Books Field Days: An Anthology of Poetry
Book Synopsis
£8.50
Parthian Books Poetry 1900-2000
Book SynopsisThe most legendary names in poetry from Wales - David Jones, Idris Davies, Vernon Watkins, RS Thomas, Dylan Thomas and Alun Lewis - are featured here alongside many living greats such as Dannie Abse, Tony Conran, Gillian Carke, Tony Curtis, Robert Minhinnick and Gwyneth Lewis. Every decade of the century is featured, as is almost every part of Wales - urban, industrial and rural - and many of the poems reflect our history from Edwardian times to the post-industrial present. Biographical notes are provided for all the poets. A few lesser names have been selected to suggest continuity and the changing literary scene over the century. Wales now has a rich, vibrant and varied literature in English and this anthology reflects it comprehensive, authoritative and lively way.Trade Review'A wonderful compendium of good poems and poets worth meeting ... But it is also an act of empowerment that reaches beyond individuals and single artistic genres, in a way that only poetry can.' Alan Riach, New Welsh Review 'Meic Stephens, with his huge knowledge of Welsh writers, has done this editing fairly, sensitively and comprehensively.' John Idris Jones,Roundyhouse Poetry Magazine
£17.00
Enitharmon Press Selected Poems
Book SynopsisIn this welcome centenary edition of C. Day Lewis' poems, Jill Balcon has substantially extended her husband's own Penguin selections of 1951 and 1969, including not only his last collection "The Whispering Roots" (1970), but also vers d'occasion written when he was Poet Laureate and a number of the Posthumous Poems. This broad retrospective allows the reader a proper view of the technical variety and range of Day Lewis' work, from the pastoral lyrics of his youth, inspired by Hardy and Yeats, through the political verse of the 1930s, to the reflective and more personal poems of his later years. Day Lewis was fond of quoting Robert Frost's dictum that 'a poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom'. This could equally well describe his own development as a writer: idealistic, sincere and psychologically acute, he bears witness in his poetry to a lifelong commitment to serving literature and its makers.
£13.50
Luath Press Ltd 100 Favourite Scottish Poems
Book Synopsis100 Favourite Scottish Poems brings together the best and best-loved of Scottish poetry. From anonymous medieval ballads to the renowned work of Sir Walter Scott and Edwin Morgan, the cream of the nation's poetry - from the Borders to Shetland - is represented in this carefully chosen anthology. 100 Favourite Scottish Poems includes the Top 20 of the nation's favourite poetic pieces, chosen by BBC Scotland listeners in a recent web poll. Scotland's most famous poets are represented - Robert Burns, Hugh MacDiarmid, Sorley MacLean, Muriel Spark, Iain Crichton Smith, Liz Lochhead, plus many more.Trade ReviewBoth wit and wisdom, and that fusion of the two which can touch the heart as well as the mind, distinguishes the work selected by Stewart Conn for his anthology 100 Favourite Scottish Poems (Luath Press and Scottish Poetry Library, £7.99). This lovely little book ranges from Dunbar to Douglas Dunn, taking in just about all the major and most of the minor Scottish poets of the centuries by means of their most memorable writing. THE SCOTSMAN It is... a highly varied collection and one that should fulfill Conn's hopes of whetting the reader's appetite... this is both a taster and a volume of substance. THE HERALD GUIDE a richly diverse collection of poems in English, Scots, Gaelic and Shetlandic (…) They reflect not only the many traditions on which Scottish poetry has drawn, but also the range and variety of contemporary Scottish poetry, which forms the bulk of the collection. NORTHWORDS NOW This book might be better called 50 Favourites and 50 Surprises, and that’s no bad thing! SCOTTISH ARTS COUNCIL
£7.59
Merlin Unwin Books Nearest Earthly Place to Paradise: The Literary
Book SynopsisExtracts inspired by the Shropshire countryside from writers including John Betjeman, Tom Sharpe, Charles Dickens, DH Lawrence, Samuel Johnson, Wilfred Owen and AE Housman each matched with a stunning specially-commissioned photograph.
£17.00
Association for Scottish Literary Studies From the Line: Scottish War Poetry 1914-1945
Book SynopsisThe first half of the Twentieth Century witnessed two catastrophic global conflicts, with suffering on a scale that - thankfully - later generations find hard to comprehend. The full story of what it was like to endure these wars might never be told, because many who survived chose not to speak - or could not speak - of what they saw and suffered. But some could turn to poetry, to try to make sense of what was happening. From the Line brings together the best of Scotland''s poetry from the two World Wars: 138 poems, from fifty-six poets, are represented here, from both men and women, from battlefields across the world and from the Home Front, too. There is dread in these lines as poets reflect on the loss of peace, or mourn the death of friends and comrades. Some tell of traumas that can never be shaken off, others of an intensity that would never be found again - but there is hope, too, and moments of humour, compassion and decency that survived the worst.
£11.88
Association for Scottish Literary Studies nothing but a set of eyes for stars: New Writing
Book SynopsisNew Writing Scotland is the principal forum for poetry and short fiction in Scotland today. Every year we publish the very best from emerging and established writers, and list many of the leading literary lights of Scotland among our contributors.
£9.45
Association for Scottish Literary Studies Dont. Even. Ask. Too. Hot.
Book SynopsisNew Writing Scotland is the principal forum for poetry and short fiction in Scotland today. Every year we publish the very best from emerging and established writers, and list many of the leading literary lights of Scotland among our contributors.
£9.45
Candlestick Press Ten Poems on the Telephone
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£7.41
Candlestick Press Ten Poems for a Picnic
Book Synopsis
£7.41
Candlestick Press Ten Poems from Russia: in association with
Book Synopsis
£7.41
Arc Publications Temporary Archives: Poetry by Women of Latin
Book SynopsisLatin America is known to be producing some of the most exciting literature in the world today. With the region's rich intersecting traditions, history of migrations, political movements, and commitment to poetic innovation, the women poets who are currently working there are some of the fiercest and most creative voices in the 21st century. Temporary Archives brings together 24 of the most widely-read women poets working in Spanish, Portuguese and indigenous languages throughout the Latin American continent, who are in dialogue with each other, their traditions, and with the current literatures and political movements in the region. With a vibrant women's movement gaining increasing traction in countries such as Chile, Argentina and Mexico, this anthology is a timely contribution to the works currently being published in English translation.
£13.49
Valley Press Verse Matters
Book Synopsis
£10.44
Waterside Press Seen & Heard: 100 Poems by Parents & Children
Book SynopsisThe poems and images are all original and from open competitions begun in 2018. They address the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of the authors as they express themselves concerning their emotions and experiences. Over a million children and family members are affected by imprisonment in the UK alone and the poems seek to emphasise the sense of loss, deprivation and isolation involved. They also show resilience—and how enforced separation impacts each and every day of the writer’s life. Backed by prison and prisoner interest groups and children’s organizations. Contains wholly original material and insights. Linked to public events and initiatives. To be used in education and training.Table of ContentsExtract from Mark's `And I Need My Dad' You are not here Like my friend's dad To build rocket-ships And kick a football... You are not here Because you are there: Inside doing time, And I need my dad.
£14.95
Luath Press Ltd Like Leaves in Autumn: Responses to the war
Book SynopsisPublished to mark the first centenary of Italy’s entry into the Great War, Like Leaves in Autumn features 21 original Italian poems by Giuseppe Ungaretti, with new English translations by Heather Scott. These are set alongside 21 new poems by contemporary Scottish poets writing in response to Ungaretti, and are illustrated with striking black-and-white artworks from the ARTIST ROOMS collection, owned by National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. One of Europe’s greatest modernist poets, Ungaretti was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, to an Italian family from Tuscany. From 1915, he served in the Italian infantry in the campaign against Austria-Hungary. It was a ferocious conflict fought in the mountains of Northern Italy in trenches dug out of Alpine rock. Thousands died and Ungaretti’s poems, written during pauses in the fighting, channel these horrific experiences. In addition to his grief and loss, these verses are shaped both by Ungaretti’s sense of exile and by his intense life-affirming poetic sensibility. A century on, this anthology offers a creative interplay of recollection, translation and new inspiration. Italian, English, Scots and Gaelic voices mingle on these pages, and the artworks spark a dialogue between words and images, creating an alchemy of further meanings.Trade ReviewUngaretti’s war poetry expresses an intense feeling for life, that sense of the miraculous in which, as Cendrars puts it, ‘only a soul full of despair can ever attain serenity and, to be in despair, you must have loved a good deal and still love the world. JOHN BURNSIDE Each of the poets was asked to respond to a poem by Ungaretti with one of their own, and to provide a commentary on the new work. Richard Price confesses to being "uneasy" about responding to Ungaretti's Levante, but comes up with a neat solution, creating a poem that celebrates the innovative structure of the original but is simultaneously in defiance of everything Ungaretti would come to stand for.- Roger Cox, Scotland on Sunday
£13.50
