📖 Ten Poems about Wine from Candlestick Press

 

Candlestick Press
2023

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this poetry pamphlet

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.

Cover illustration by Jane Walker.

The poems are selected and introduced by poet, reviewer and writing mentor Jonathan Davidson. Jonathan favours an enigmatic red of a winter evening, but seeks out a crisp, giddy white when the sun shines – as it often does in the English Midlands.

📖 My Review..

I am sure that there have been many glasses of wine consumed over this bank holiday weekend with perhaps a toast, or two, to the newly crowned King and Queen. From our supermarket shelves, to the selective emporiums of wine merchants, wine has become so much of a staple in our daily lives that we rather take it for granted. 

In this fine collection of poems, dedicated to wine, we realise the value of pretty words which describe our love affair with all things vino.

There are ten lovely poems to enjoy, from the lighthearted view of Loss from Wendy Cope

" His absence wasn't a problem

But the corkscrew had gone as well..."

To poignant reflections in The Long Finish by Jonathan Davidson

" I see the bottle pour its fat few drops.

Our glasses gently touch, and one last time

I taste whatever wine it was we drank... "

And finally my favourite which is from The Vine by James Thomson

"The wine of love is music 

and the feast of love is song.."

Ten Poems about Wine is a lovely collection of poems and is the perfect gift to accompany a bottle of wine. This truthful anthology certainly raises the spirits and leaves a fuzzy warm glow. 

In Vino Veritas...slainté

About the Publisher

Candlestick Press is a small, independent press publishing sumptuously produced poetry pamphlets that serve as a wonderful alternative to a greetings card, with matching envelopes and bookmarks left blank for your message. Their subjects include Clouds, Walking, Birds, Home and Kindness. Candlestick Press pamphlets are stocked by chain and independent bookshops, galleries and garden centres nationwide and available to order online.

Connect: www.candlestickpress.co.uk / 

Twitter @PoetryCandle