Ten Poems About Cricket, Introduced by John Lucas

$14.99

'Instead of a Card' is the idea behind the British publisher Candlestick Press' range of gorgeous small poetry pamphlets. With covers created by leading contemporary artists and poems hand-picked to speak to every kind of reader, all their titles offer a richly rewarding reading journey. Pamphlets are supplied with an envelope for posting and a bookmark for a special message.

This volume -

Over the years, a lot of people (mostly men, let it be said) have asked for poems about cricket. So it is with great pleasure, and a bit of a drum-roll, that we present Ten Poems about Cricket selected and introduced by John Lucas, who knows a thing or two about both.

In his Introduction, John Lucas writes: Ten poems about cricket? Given the number of good poets who have written about the game, to choose a mere ten is mission impossible. Although it may indeed be mission impossible , he has nonetheless chosen ten superb poems to whet the appetite, including one that he describes as quite possibly the best poem about cricket ever written . The poems capture the game and its history, the excitement of the moment and the hinterland of reminiscence, eulogy and elegy.

"...the bowler six times looped a slow ball like a deeply considered question, and six times the batsman in his plum cap leaned very attentively and returned an answer."

- from 'Near Greenford, 1951' by Brian Jones

Poems by John Arlott, Adrian Buckner, Joan Downar, Philip Hodgins, Brian Jones, John Lucas, Matt Merritt, Hubert Moore, Norman Nicholson and Kit Wright