Category: poems

Candlestick Press pamphlet reviews

Posted on 15th October 201631st October 2016 by joycemay

Candlestick Press, who publish gorgeous poetry pamphlets usually containing 10 or 12 poems around a central theme very kindly sent me their latest 3 pamphlets to review.

Their pamphlets are designed to be sent as a gift card for all manner of occasions. They come with an envelope, a bookmark and a sticky label to seal the flap with, look!

The pamphlets are beautifully designed and printed and make such an original change from a plain card. Here is a bit more about the three they sent me.

Ten Poems about Friendship

Of the Ten poems in this pamphlet my favourites were:

The Pleasures of Friendship by Stevie Smith (1902 – 1971) so short but just says it all really.
Friends by Polly Clark, about an episode of the TV series Friends that is her favourite, so original.
Inventory by Lorraine Mariner, All of us of Facebook users will identify with this and its amazing how many different types of friendship there really are.
Friends by Alden Nowlan (1933 – 1983) Friends can be so vital in combatting loneliness, I found this very moving.
Fiere in the Middle by Jackie Kay, Friends being there for each other in times of need, beautiful words!
Friendship and Illness by May Sarton (1912 – 1995) we need friends all the time but when we are feeling unwell they can be the best medicine.
Friendship by Elizabeth Jennings (1926 – 2001) The true meaning of friendship, give and take and always being there.

I hadnt heard of most of these poets so its great to have discovered them and their beautiful words.

The Twelve Poems of Christmas

Now I really love everything about Christmas so this was such a treat, though having said that I didnt like half as many poems in this one, however there are poems here to suit everyone. Here are my favourites:

The Christmas Robin by Robert Graves (1895 – 1985) His descriptions of the countryside are always so evocative
How I’ll Decorate My Tree by Liz Lochhead, This is so funny and my favourite poem, it speaks to all of us at some time or other and her forced rhyming is just glorious.

The Wood in Winter by John Lewis-Stempel

This is an unusual pamphlet in that its mainly just one short story rather than a collection of poems. Its written by John Lewis-Stempel who won the Thwaites Wainwright prize with his beautiful book, Meadowlands in 2014.

It also has 2 poems: Seven Words for Winter by Nancy Campbell and Winter Heart by Jackie Kay both of which are wonderful.

The Wood in Winter is such a lovely story, detailing a walk through some woods on land that the author once used to own. His descriptions of a cold, snowy day slowly turning to dusk is a treat to read. I felt I was there with him every step of the way, watching the birds, crunching through the snow and shivering with the cold.

People claim they enjoy winter, but what they actually mean is they enjoy winter as a livener, a quick tease of the elements before resorting to their central heating. For anyone working outdoors, winter hurts.
John Lewis-Stempel

I fear the quote above is way too accurate.

The cover is beautifully designed by Angela Harding

A huge thank you to the lovely folk at Candlestick Press for these. I have plans for the giving of them all.

Why I said YES YES to poetry

Posted on 15th June 201615th October 2016 by joycemay

Sorry about the title of this post, its a bit punny but what the heck eh?

With my newly rediscovered love of poetry i’ve been watching a lot of booktuber videos for good recommendations. One of them who give THE best advice on poetry is of course Jen Campbell @aeroplanegirl on Twitter.

I recently saw her talking about a book called Some Planet by John Montara (see pic below)

This book sounded so damn amazing I had to investigate the publisher and get me a copy. I cheekily asked the publisher if they would send me a book for review even though they are many, many miles away in Portland, Oregon, USA!

And guess what? they said yes they would but it wasnt just one book they sent me! take a look at this bundle!

They sent me 5 books of poetry and a couple of postcards with poems on advertising more of the collections they publish.

I was bowled over by this generosity and so i’m bigging them up to poetry loving folk in the UK and around the world.

Here is a closer look at the books

I will review them at a later date but for now just take a look at how fab they all are.

If you are into modern poetry then do go check out YES YES Books

Review: Ten War Poems edited by Andrew Motion

Posted on 4th June 201615th October 2016 by joycemay

I saw this on a friends Twitter feed and immediately contacted Candlestick Press to see if they had a spare copy, and they very kindly sent me one.

It is a small poetry pamphlet which is designed to be something you could send as a card to someone. It comes with an envelope for posting and a stylish bookmark too. What a lovely and very original idea.

The Ten poems have been chosen by Andrew Motion, one of which, The Gardener has been written by him.

Initially I thought it was all poems about World War 1, but its about war in general from any time period or battle. It was good to expand my reading in this way as i tend to stick to WW1 or WW2 in poetry.

I’m not a fan of all the poems, that will happen as poetry is such a personal choice. But three of them really stood out for me.

The Send-Off by Wilfred Owen is such a haunting poem about men going off to war, there is a lot of bitterness I feel in his words about how soldiers were treated.

“Shall they return to beatings of great bells

In wild train-loads?

A few, a few, too few for drums and yells,

May creep back, silent, to still village wells

Up half-known roads.”

The Gardener by Andrew Motion is a very moving poem and cleverly written and set out on the page. Its from a much more recent conflict in Kabul and makes for very sombre reading.

“We spent

many hours kneeling together in the garden

so many hours

Mark

he liked to lend a hand

watching Gardener’s World

building compost heaps

or the brick path with the cherry tree

that grows over it now the white cherry

where i thought I mustn’t cry

I must behave

as if he’s coming back”

But my favourite of all of them simply because it is from such an unusual point of view is The Fly by Miroslav Holub

“She sat on a willow-trunk

watching

part of the battle of Crecy,

the shouts,

the gasps,

the groans,

the trampling and the tumbling.

During the fourteenth charge

of the French cavalry

she mated

with a brown-eyed male fly

from Vadincourt.”

Its a lovely little booklet and great for introducing poetry to people who may be put off by a larger collection.

Thanks again to Candlestick Press for sending me this to review.

Let me know a favourite poem of yours?

How I found poetry again

Posted on 1st June 201615th October 2016 by joycemay

35 or more years ago I discovered and fell in love with poetry. I was a young teenager and the television adaptation of Testament of Youth came on the box. I had not heard of the book before but I just fell in love with Vera Brittain’s story and began reading more about World War One and the incredibly moving and haunting poetry it begat.

I read Owen, Sassoon and others in a compilation but the first book I bought was Rupert Brooke’s collected works. I just adored his simple but very lyrical style.

I moved onto A.E. Housman’s, A Shropshire Lad and was blown away by his descriptive writing.

I tried out the Romantics like Keats, Shelley and Wordsworth but found them a bit too flowery for my taste.

I read and enjoyed poetry for a good many years but then life took over in other ways and I just lost interest but….

Since following Jen Campbell’s You Tube channel and especially her ‘Where to begin with reading poetry’ I have come full circle and am back in love with it all over again. This time though I’m not reading the classics but new poetry, some not published in actually book form yet but in magazines like The Rialto.

I’ve discovered that I love free form poetry and not the rhyming kind I used to read. I love the way that the poets are able to express themselves without having to spend ages finding words that rhyme. Its like flash fiction but more lyrical.

So i’ve begun buying some bits and here is my collection so far.

I have the most recent edition of The Rialto in the background with the striking orange, yellow and black cover.

The Best of British Poetry 2015

The Forward book of Poetry 2016

The Melancholy of Mechagirl by Catherynne M. Valente

Ten War Poems edited by Andrew Motion

Why God is a Woman by Nin Andrews

What we Buried by Caitlyn Siehl

No Matter the Wreckage by Sarah Kay

I will be reviewing them over the course of the next month or so and I cant wait to read them all.

I want to share some snippets that I absoloutely love from Sarah’s, Nin’s and Caitlyn’s poetry

This is an excerpt from ‘A Letter to Love’ by Caitlyn Siehl

The first poem I wrote that wasn’t about you

was in all capital letters,

like it was trying to compensate

for your absence

What an opening line!

This is from ‘The First Poem in the Imaginary Book’ by Sarak Kay

It it were me, when the book arrives,

I would immediately start scanning

pages to find any trace of me.

My name, references to my body,

my secrets, moments we shared.

I would pretend to be horrified if I

found evidence of myself, but really

I would pray to find even a single

mention.

And last but not least a line or two from Nin Andrew’s very clever book ‘Why God is a Woman’

On the Island where I come from

women rule. They run the country, control the wealth, and decide who

will do what, why, and when. At the end of the day, when the sun sinks

into the sea, the women leave their offices behind and go out on the

town to enjoy what is known as the women’s hour.

I want to know so much more about poetry and how its written like it is, and I reckon the only way to do that is to read, read, read. I have even begun writing my own poetry though its early days.

I hope you find some of these poems to your liking. Tell me your favourite poems or favourite poets even.

Poetry Friday – Apples by Laurie Lee

Posted on 8th November 2013 by joycemay

Apples

Behold the apples’ rounded worlds:
juice-green of July rain,
the black polestar of flowers, the rind
mapped with its crimson stain.

The russet, crab and cottage red
burn to the sun’s hot brass,
then drop like sweat from every branch
and bubble in the grass.

They lie as wanton as they fall,
and where they fall and break,
the stallion clamps his crunching jaws,
the starling stabs his beak.

In each plump gourd the cidery bite
of boys’ teeth tears the skin;
the waltzing wasp consumes his share,
the bent worm enters in.

I, with as easy hunger, take
entire my season’s dole;
welcome the ripe, the sweet, the sour,
the hollow and the whole.

Laurie Lee