This mini anthology is a celebration of the rich variety of ways in which we get ourselves from A to B. A long distance walk, a bike ride, a boat trip – all are here in language that captures the thrill of being en route. We meet cyclists pedalling with panniers around eastern France. Then there’s a rowdy train journey from Barrow to Sheffield; the passengers may be raucous but what is relished is the train’s “relentless pressing on”. Sheenagh Pugh’s poem wonders what might happen if a road had a mind of its own. Then again: “Who wants to know a story’s end, or where a road will go?” from ‘What if this road’ by Sheenagh Pugh Whether you’re a seasoned explorer or an armchair traveller, these poems offer the delight and excitement of being on the way to somewhere else. Poems by Jean Atkin, Jo Bell, Geoffrey Chaucer, David Constantine, John Foggin, Norman MacCaig, Michael McCarthy, Kim Moore, Sheenagh Pugh and Rabindranath Tagore.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 24

Dimensions: 163 x 217 mm

Publication Date: 01-08-2022

John Keats’ “beaker of the warm South” must be the most famous glass of wine in poetry. Who could fail to remember the “beaded bubbles” and the “purple-stained mouth”? We can almost taste the rich berry notes as we read. This selection features part of that much-loved paean to a luscious red, alongside poems that celebrate delicious wines of other hues. We experience a grape harvest in Spain which is celebrated as a form of alchemy, and a wedding reception at which wine represents all the good things that lie ahead for the new couple. Elsewhere, one poet’s experience of a glass of Sauvignon Blanc is so intense that she almost becomes the wine as she drinks: “I can drink on my own. I am cut grass, light-bodied, off-dry.” from ‘Tasting Notes’ by Emma Storr. Poems by Li Bai, Jane Commane, Wendy Cope, Jonathan Davidson, John Keats, Gregory Leadbetter, Miriam Wei Wei Lo, Matthew Stewart, Emma Storr and James Thomson.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 20

Dimensions: 137 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-04-2023

When times are tough a nice hot cuppa is often our first port of call. But in these poems, tea drinking is a far more varied and entertaining activity than this; the intimacy of sharing a pot is a prompt for all manner of surprising conversations and revelations. These ten poems also celebrate quiet moments alone with a lovingly prepared cup of tea. In one poem an almond blossom tea is a gentle reminder of all there is to be grateful for after a serious illness which: “… seems, honestly, a trifle now that steam and scent and strength and steep and infusion say thank you thank you thank you for the then, and now” from ‘Procedure’ by Jo Shapcott. Ten Poems about Tea is for all tea drinkers, be they Earl Grey or English Breakfast, cup or mug. We hope you’ll enjoy the poems with a cuppa made with your very favourite leaves. Poems by John Agard, John Arlott, Tiffany Atkinson, John Betjeman, Eavan Boland, Sheila Hackney, Thomas Hardy, Kenny Knight, Michael Longley and Jo Shapcott.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 20

Dimensions: 137 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-04-2011

This second edition of our popular mini-anthology calls at every stop on love’s roller-coaster journey – from the first dizzy declarations of passion, to the clear-eyed devotion of a couple in old age. In one of the most celebrated of modern love poems, we sense the boundless optimism of love at full tilt: “…you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you” from ‘i carry your heart with me’ by ee cummings. Along the way there’s also humour and warmth in the form of a battered straw hat that has come to symbolise what it means to be together for the long haul. These are poems that capture all the light and shade of love; poems to make you think and feel. The selection is edited and introduced by Lorraine Mariner, a poet and librarian who works at the National Poetry Library in London. Poems by Fleur Adcock, John Ashbery, ee cummings, Tishani Doshi, Lorraine Mariner, Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, Sinéad Morrissey, Peter Sansom, Alfred Lord Tennyson and RS Thomas.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 20

Dimensions: 137 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-05-2008

This second edition of our much-loved anthology contains poems of bereavement selected for their beauty and for the sense of consolation that they offer. There are poems that question and mourn, alongside others that accept the inevitability of death and give thanks for a life well lived. Poems old and new reflect on the experience of losing a much-loved parent, child, sibling or friend, as well as on the immense loss of life in the two World Wars. For those arranging a funeral or simply seeking the quiet company of words to help them through the long process of grieving, this varied and reflective selection is sure to offer comfort: “I lie here in a riot of sunlight Watching the day break and the clouds flying. Everything is going to be all right.” from ‘Everything is Going to Be All Right’ by Derek Mahon. Poems by WH Auden, Laurence Binyon, Robert Burns, Gaius Valerius Catullus, Billy Collins, Wendy Cope, Emily Dickinson, Sasha Dugdale, Paul Durcan, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Lorna Goodison, Thomas Gray, Matthew Hollis, Jackie Kay, Faith Lawrence, John McCrae, Derek Mahon, Sue Millard, Adrian Mitchell, Peter Porter, Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, Michael Rosen, Christina Rossetti, William Shakespeare, Penelope Shuttle, Edna St Vincent Millay, Dylan Thomas, Mark Twain and Anna Wigley.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 40

Dimensions: 137 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-06-2018

How many ways are there to say “I love you”? According to poetry there are many – with room for humour, longing, lust, tenderness and a healthy dose of self-mockery. These fourteen poems are not about love but declare it with an immediacy that’s captivating and irresistible. Longing may be expressed using all sorts of images – there’s even a riff on a famous Shakespeare sonnet where we find ourselves in outer space – but at the heart of all the poems is love and the urgent need to proclaim it: “I love your eyes when the lovelight lies Lit with a passionate fire.” from ‘I Love You’ by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. This is an anthology that says “I love you” with a freshness and directness that’s guaranteed to stir even the stoniest of hearts. Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Katharine Goda, Nathalie Handal, Christopher Marlowe, Mary Mulholland, James Nash, Ogden Nash, Abigail Parry, Rachel Plummer, William Shakespeare, Penny Sharman, Dominic Weston and Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 24

Dimensions: 137 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-12-2022

The word countryside conjures up all manner of landscapes. It can suggest woods or high moors, mountains or farmland, meadows or gentle chalk hills. In fact, the countryside is everything that isn’t town or city, which is probably why we’re so drawn to it. These poems selected by Irish poet Seán Hewitt explore the countryside in all this variety. There are moments of pure rhapsody with larks singing overhead, alongside encounters with bad weather and poor soil to remind us that it’s not all bliss and beauty. Together the poems capture the consoling rhythms of the seasons as they are played out in our rural landscapes: “for as earth Rolls on her journey, so her little fields Ripen or sleep…” from ‘The Land’ by Vita Sackville-West. Whatever countryside suggests to you, we’re sure you’ll be delighted by this beguiling selection. Poems by Kayo Chingonyi, John Clare, Helen Dunmore, WD Ehrhart, Vona Groarke, Jen Hadfield, Seán Hewitt, Claude McKay, Vita Sackville-West and Sara Teasdale.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 20

Dimensions: 137 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-07-2021

The British archipelago has over 7,000 miles of coastline – everything from limestone cliffs to muddy estuaries and from sand dunes to saltmarshes. These landscapes – and others far beyond – are reflected in these glorious poems. We find mudflats and wild Scottish shorelines, along with a ballad celebrating the shingle of a Suffolk beach where: “The shelving’s steep With stones to skim As if they’d feet To hop and skip Across the deep…” from ‘The Ballad of Shingle Street’ by Blake Morrison. Everywhere, there’s a sense that we go to the land’s edge to escape the hurly-burly of our daily lives. Being close to the ocean is “as near as we come to another world” as Anne Stevenson says in her paean to the North Sea. Poems by Matthew Arnold, Miriam Darlington, Helen Dunmore, Jen Hadfield, Kathleen Jamie, Blake Morrison, Kenneth Steven, Anne Stevenson, Giles Watson and Derek Walcott.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 24

Dimensions: 137 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-06-2022

Winter seems to divide opinion more than any other season; we love it or we definitely don’t! The poems in this mini-anthology are guaranteed to delight readers of every persuasion; we encounter muddy walks, ice-skating, cosy fires, chilblains and even a snow pudding. There’s also a Skype meeting between a child and a grandparent – a poignant reminder that distance from a loved one can mean living in different seasons: “You hold handfuls of snow to my face, say ‘You can eat it’, your eyes laughing as you gulp it down and show me red berries on the naked tree, footprints on the icy track.” from ‘January Skype July’ by Christine Coates. These are poems to curl up with: they relish the season’s rigours, finding warmth and humanity in the midst of darkness and cold. This title completes our beautiful seasonal quartet, making a sumptuous collection of four spanning the whole year. Each pamphlet – or indeed the complete set – makes an ideal gift for occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries and more… Poems by John Clare, Christine Coates, Jane Duran, Robert Hayden, Rhiannon Hooson, Christopher James, Ted Kooser, Ruby Robinson, Rob Walton and Holly Yuille.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 24

Dimensions: 137 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-11-2020

Autumn can be so many things. There are some years when summer seems to pack up her bags and disappear in the space of just a few days. Other times there’s a delicious lingering of warmth so that autumn seems to be merely a softer, more gentle version of what has gone before: “The trees glittered with the tumbling of leaves; The sidewalks shone like alleys of dropped maple leaves, And the houses ran along them laughing out of square, open windows.” from ‘September, 1918’ by Amy Lowell. This selection of poems captures one of poetry’s favourite seasons in all its variety and opulence, bringing us ripe pears, twittering swallows and children gathering berries, alongside the early-evening switching on of TVs and the drawing of curtains. Poems by Emily Brontë, Maggie Dietz, Kahlil Gibran, Jane Hirshfield, John Keats, Ted Kooser, Amy Lowell, Freya Manfred, Vinode Ramgopal and RS Thomas.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 20

Dimensions: 137 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 01-09-2020