You’ll maybe recall me mentioning these poetry pamphlets from Candlestick Press before. As we head into Autumn, I thought I’d highlight a recent one, Ten Poems About Wildlife, which has a beautiful autumnal cover and an older one, simply called Ten Poems for Autumn. Candlestick Press make a donation to charity for every title sold. So if you buy the Wildlife pamphlet for example, they will make a donation to The Wildlife Trusts.
Each pamphlet has a beautifully illustrated cover with a matching bookmark, and carefully selected poems inside featuring a mix of well-known classics, contemporary poetry and new work. The covers are created by leading contemporary artists. For only a little more than you might pay for a good quality card, which would likely be thrown away after a few days, you can give someone one of these pamphlets which is more of a lasting gift.
Pamphlets come with envelopes for posting and a bookmark where you can write the message that you might have written on a card. With almost 100 pamphlets now available, there is a huge range of subjects available so if you are looking for one for a friend, or for yourself, I’m sure you’ll find something on a suitable topic.
You can buy these pamphlets from many independent bookshops, giftshops, garden centres and galleries. Or you can buy them directly from the Candlestick Press website,
where you can also view the full range of titles available.
SELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY PASCALE PETIT – VARIOUS AUTHORS
Hedgehogs and hares, dragonflies and deer… This mini anthology is a celebration of the wild creatures that flutter, slither, swim or stride through the British countryside.
The strange language of bats and the exhilaration of wild ponies running free are brought vividly to life, while the sinuous body of an otter is captured in a poem of slippery word-play.
Again and again we experience the thrill of encountering a wild animal in its habitat:
“When she pauses in the clearing between cedars
slender neck arched like a drawn bow,
I want to kneel, hold her against my thundering heart,”from ‘Dream of My Daughter as a Fawn’ by Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné
The anthology is a reminder to pay attention to the natural world and its creatures – that although poems may appear to keep them safe, we should never take them for granted.
Poems by Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné, John Clare, Emily Dickinson, Jen Hadfield, Norman MacCaig, Robert Macfarlane, David Morley, Les Murray, Pascale Petit and Robert Williams Parry.
Cover illustration by Sam Cannon.
Donation to The Wildlife Trusts.
VARIOUS AUTHORS
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.
Cover illustration by Alexandra Buckle.
Portobello Book Blog 
Thank you so much for this reminder. I miss reading and writing poetry and need to get back to it. A beautiful cover on the Autumn anthology. I think I might get myself a copy.
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