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| Candlestick Press May 2025 Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this pamphlet |
A weed is just a plant in the wrong place – many gardeners will have said these words to themselves with a wry smile when contemplating an afternoon of pulling up nettles or digging out ground elder.
This delightful pamphlet is proof – if needed – that weeds can be every bit as beautiful as the flowers we choose to cultivate in our gardens. In a poem about a variety of hawkweed, the speaker’s attention is caught by the unexpected vividness of flowers growing close to a disused gravel pit:
“What is it about tiny yellow flowers?
The way they scatter through spring grass,
a thin gauze of lemon magic.”
from ‘Mouse-ear Hawkweed’ by Ian Humphreys
These days, we’re encouraged to make space for a few weeds in our gardens. Bees and butterflies find them irresistible, so why shouldn’t we? This lively and varied mini anthology seems to agree.
Poems by William Barnes, Jane Burn, Victoria Gatehouse, James Stanley Gilbert, Lorna Goodison, Ian Humphrey’s, L Kiev, Vernon Scannell, Anne Stevenson and Beth Winegarner.
Cover illustration by Sara Boccaccini Meadows
📖 My Review..
There’s nothing more beautiful than a cluster of wild flowers, which if we look closely are probably comprised mostly of plants which could be described as weeds, but if left to nature these flowers glory in their spot by the side of the road or tucked into the crevices of field hedges. Whilst weeds are the scourge of many gardeners, there is something steadfast about weeds as they survive against all adversity and come back despite our best efforts to eradicate them.
These ten lovely poems celebrate the simple beauty of weeds.
Celebrating the loveliness of buttercups in Weeds by Lorna Goodison:
‘This one is so lovely I say
It stands slender in a stalk
And shoots yellow comets..’
Bomb Weed by Victoria Gatehouse brought us the poignant reminder that Rose Bay Willowherb once flourished in the WW2 bomb sites :
‘After the war you said it rolled itself out
Across the scorched wounds of forests and towns
And I learned to see it through your eyes
A purple gauze, laid bright over bomb sites
Softening the ragged edges of ruin..’
Over recent years there seem to be a proliferation of Dandelions crowding out the sides of our grass verges on roads, dual carriageways and motorways, such a cheerful little flower which adds a much welcome splash of colour in spring after the dreariness of winter.
Jane Burn celebrates the humble dandelion in Taraxacum
‘ The ultimate weed - pluck one head and it grows another, mow it down, it comes right back as if nature itself was telling us to stop. Please stop.’
Beautifully produced with a glorious flower filled cover and end papers Ten Poems about Weeds is the ideal gift instead of a card for any gardener who has a love/hate relationship with weeds.
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 Mountains, Clouds, Walking, Birds, Wine and Happiness. Candlestick Press pamphlets are stocked by chain and independent bookshops, galleries and garden centres nationwide and available to order online.
Twitter/X @poetrycandle
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