Review ~ Ten Poems About Art From Candlestick Press

Candlestick Press
July 2019

Poems about art have a long and vivid history, and some of our greatest poets have tried to capture in verse the beguiling worlds of colour on canvas. Geoff Dyer’s remarkably wide-ranging selection encourages us to look at familiar and unfamiliar paintings and artists with fresh eyes.

We find ourselves in Vermeer’s studio next door to a rowdy alehouse and meet a Bonnard nude day-dreaming in her bathtub. There’s a contemplative poem capturing the calm of a Vuillard interior, and then there’s life as one of Miró’s dots:

“So here I am, on the edge of animation,

a dream, a dance, a fantastic construction,

A child’s adventure.”

from ‘I Would Like to be a Dot in a Painting by Miró’ by Moniza Alvi

These poems are sure to delight every art lover, reminding us that any painting worth its salt has a thousand different meanings. This title is the second co-publication by Candlestick Press in association with Pushkin Press.

Geoff Dyer is the award-winning author of numerous works of fiction and non-fiction. His books have been translated into 24 languages.

Poems by Fleur Adcock, Moniza Alvi, WH Auden, Sue Hubbard, Mark Doty, Linda France, Mimi Khalvati, RS Thomas, Tomas Tranströmer and William Carlos Williams.

Donation to Teapot Trust

What did I think about it..

There's a little bit of an artist in all of us, some can express this in beautiful paintings, whilst others are more inclined to paint pictures with their words and in this latest collection of Ten Poems about Art, Geoff Dyer has chosen a fascinating range of poetry which describes the colour, sensation and emotional appeal of artists, their models and their masterpieces.

I think opening poem sets the atmosphere really well:

From Musée des Beaux Arts by W H Auden(1907-1973)

"About suffering they were never wrong.
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;"

An artist's visionary colour palette is recreated in glorious detail in Four Cut Sunflowers, One Upside Down by Mark Doty.

"...They are a nocturne
in argent and gold, and they burn
with the ferocity
of dying..."

In the poem Cézanne The Card Players by RS Thomas the scene is captured perfectly and those who knows the painting will recognise the two enigmatic card players who sit intently staring at the cards in their hands, wine bottle between them..

"..The Pipe without 
smoke, the empty
bottle,the light
on the wall are the clock
they go by.."

Ten Poems about Art brings into focus diverse works of art which then give a tantalising glimpse into a world of sensation, colour and emotion. And for anyone who has ever gone into an art gallery and, like me, bought a bunch of postcards, this one will ring true:

Leaving the Tate by Fleur Adcock

"..Coming out with your clutch of postcards
in a Tate Gallery bag and another clutch
if images packed into your head you pause
on the steps to look across the river.."

Ten Poems about Art is a lovely collection of poetry made all the more special by a glorious cover and would make a perfect gift for any art lover.

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

Review ~ Ten Poems about Walking from Candlestick Press

Candlestick Press
January 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this pamphlet

Poems that celebrate the joys of being on foot

There seems to be a natural connection between walking and poetry. For Wordsworth, the regular rhythm of walking was a stimulus to writing, and he said that “nine-tenths of my verses have been poured out in the open air."

This beautiful mini-anthology edited by keen walker and award-winning poet and translator Sasha Dugdale contains Wordsworth’s heart-stopping ‘Old Man Travelling’ alongside contemporary poems that capture the delights of a walk with a dear friend or of walking in solitude. There’s a poem about setting off through city streets to find a river and a heron, and another featuring a surprising encounter on the top of Helvellyn.

One by one then as a whole, these poems remind us that being on foot will always be one of the best ways of experiencing the world.

Poems by Matt Clegg, David Constantine, Sasha Dugdale, Choman Hardi, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Stephanie Norgate, MR Peacocke, Stephen Watts, William Wordsworth and Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch.

Cover illustration by Hugh Ribbans.

My thoughts about it..

There's something really comforting about putting on a pair of walking boots and taking to the walkways of our glorious countryside. The natural rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other and the absolute joy of simply being in the moment is one of life's pleasures. And after the excess of Christmas and New Year January is the perfect time for going out walking...

Photo: Jo Barton

This collection of ten stunning poems conjure the emotion of walking, either on a solitary walk or with companions, and whilst the beauty of the surroundings and the emotional connection to nature cannot be underestimated, what is also important to remember is the poignant reminder that walking is also, for some, a means of escape...

From Escape Journey by Choman Hardi

" They force you to crawl these mountains.

even if you are only 14.

Who made the first journey over them?

Whose feet created this track?"

As always, with these fascinating poetry collections, there are poems to make you smile and Climbing Helvellyn by Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch certainly did just that :

" At the summit ten women on a chequered rug

staring at how far they'd travelled, had just begun

to pass round the cling filmed sandwiches as if they were 

transparent presents and point little silver flasks 

like wands at mountains still to climb"

And the poignant beauty of walk in a wood after a long loneliness by Stephaine Norgate will stay with me for  along time...

" you go into a wood, you find a place
where your father carved his childhood
there is the grain and the bole
the bark and the pen-knife's mark..."

Ten Poems about Walking is a diverse mixture - from the classic beauty of William Wordsworth's Old Man Travelling, to the decidedly more modern The Fall of Rebel Angels by Sasha Dugdale there is, quite simply, something for everyone to enjoy.

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, Sheep, 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 / @PoetryCandle

National Poetry Day 2018...

 On National Poetry Day I am delighted to bring another fabulous set of poems from Candlestick Press

Ten Poems about Rivers

Candlestick Press
August 2018

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

Poems that travel from source to sea

Rivers carve a passage through our landscapes with elemental force. At the same time, they can be and signify many different things. In Ian Duhig’s fascinating selection we encounter the scope and drama of rivers, from the complexity of Eavan Boland’s Liffe to Kayo Chingonyi’s turbid Tyne which prompts lovers to reflect on what brought them together.

This rich and varied mini-anthology captures rivers in all their beauty and grandeur, taking us on a compelling journey from source to sea and encapsulating the shape-shifting nature of water on the move. As Philip Gross says in his beautiful poem ‘Severn Song’:

“The Severn was brown and the Severn was blue –

not this-then-that, not either-or,

no mixture. Two things can be true.”

Ian Duhig is an award-winning poet who also works with artists and musicians, and on projects for the socially excluded.

Poems by Eavan Boland, Kayo Chingonyi, Ian Duhig, Philip Gross, Kathleen Jamie, Zaffar Kunial, Beth McDonough, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Pascale Petit and Julian Turner.

Cover illustration by Ian Phillips.

Donation to The Rivers Trust.

My thoughts about it...

There's something rather splendid about a river. Be it ambling through the countryside gently touching banks of wild flowers, or tumbling noisily like a giant through rocks and crags, the impression of wild water as it disappears into an unknown distance lives on in the memory.

In this collection of fine verse every aspect of rivers and their effect is explored, from the dramatic, in The Scar by Eamon Boland, to the enigmatic, Empty Words by Zaffar Kunial there is a wealth of emotion expressed in the beauty of their words and every succinct observation makes reading the poems such a joy.

It is from my favourite, the beautiful, Appletreewick by Julian Turner that these words are taken:

" Everywhere the water's great height

surprises, a great smooth swelling 

over weirs, a sheer glass welling

above the banks as skeins of light 

wind around themselves in mauves 

and greys..."

If you like rivers, enjoy nature in all its glory, or simply like to meander along the banks of fast flowing water then I am sure that Ten Poems about Rivers will appeal and what better way to celebrate National Poetry Day than by ordering one of these lovely poetry pamphlets from Candlestick Press.

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, Sheep, Birds, Home and Kindness. Candlestick Press pamphlets are stocked by chain and independent bookshops, galleries and garden centres nationwide and available to order online.

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Twitter @poetrycandle

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Candlestick Press ~ Ten Poems about Sheds

Candlestick Press
March 2018

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

Poems about the hidden magic of the common-or-garden shed

Sheds have come a long way since the old ‘man-cave’ cliché. These days, a shed is a far more democratic place – somewhere that symbolises the privacy and space that we all need.

John Greening’s wonderfully varied selection of poems explores sheds from every imaginable angle. The poems take us to a child’s hiding place, a treasury of exotic implements and rich aromas and a retreat in which to remember the past. Derek Mahon’s fêted poem ‘A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford’ creates a mysterious inner world which seems to exist outside time.

A shed may just be a place to keep the lawnmower, or it may be somewhere to escape to in order to write or paint. Sometimes it’s a haven in which to daydream when the house is full of noise and bustle. Elsewhere it’s:

“A sea-side arbour, a garden shanty,

knocked together out of driftwood and furnished

with a beat-up sofa…”

from ‘Arbour’ by Kathleen Jamie

These enchanting poems will lead you quietly into private worlds where you’ll find you’re entirely at home.

Poems by Fleur Adcock, Alison Brackenbury, John Greening, Stuart Henson, Kathleen Jamie, Derek Mahon, John McAuliffe, MR Peacocke, Carol Rumens and Vernon Scannell.

Cover illustration by David&Rews

My thoughts about Ten Poems about Sheds..

When I was growing up my friend, Susan and I, would play for hours in what was my Uncle Peter's wood shed. There was something comforting about being hidden away in this sheltered world, with its comforting smell of wood shaving and the fragrant aroma of new timber. We created all sorts of imaginary worlds, from the duck and dive of hide and seek, to playing pirates on the high seas and when we grew tired of boisterous games we constructed tables and chairs from remnants of timber and played our favourite game of 'house'...

Ten poems about Sheds conjures a world of hidden possibilities, from the ordinary to the magical. The strong imagery in the ten, very different poems, evoke long forgotten memories and buried feelings, and even though the shed be ever so humble, there really is no place like it.

Amongst my favourites in this selection are:

Hide and Seek, Vernon Scannell

"Call out. Call loud: I'm ready! Come and find me!"
The sacks in the toolshed smell like the sea side.
They'll never find you in this salty dark..."

The Shed, Stuart Henson

"Step in it's a tardis: vortex of smell 
distilled a century- of pre-war
timber, earth floor and the gold decay of sawdust.."

And my favourite, which reminds me of my father..

The Shed, Alison Brackenbury

He looked after tools, not just his own,
palm polished handles, Victorian elm,
stamped with initials... "

The cover art is so reminiscent of my father's potting shed, with long strings of drying onions from the garden and its ordered rows of seedlings and pots of old paint nestling side by side on the counter. His well worn coat, hanging, pockets bulging with bits of old string, and his hidden tin of favourite pipe tobacco.

So many memories conjured by ten evocative poems about sheds.

These pamphlets are small but perfectly formed and, as always, the poems contained within really do get their message across in a meaningful way.

I love them.

About Candlestick Press

Candlestick Press is an independent publisher based in Nottingham, UK. We’ve been publishing poetry pamphlets since 2008 not only for people who already love poetry, but also for those who will love it but perhaps don’t know that yet. Our ‘instead of a card’ pamphlets make an ideal alternative to a mainstream greetings card and are a small gift in their own right. They have matching envelopes and bookmarks left blank for your message, and are excellent companions on journeys or for a bedtime read. By supporting us, you help an independent press and our supported charities at the same time as treating yourselves, your friends and family to some wonderful poems.

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