Book cover of 'Ten Poems about Sons' with illustrations of a boy and a man outdoors.

Greeting card with nature-themed illustration and envelope on a beige background

Ten Poems About Sons

$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 -

In this delightful mini anthology we find touching and uplifting poems exploring sons as babies and sons as young men, as well as everything in between.

We meet a boy daydreaming in bed on a summer’s evening, his mother delighting in his wakefulness as his imagination roams in the dark. There’s a son begging his dad for a bedtime story, which must be different from the last one.

And then there are unforgettable rites of passage such as a gap year, which turns out to be as much of an adventure for the parent as for the child:

“My heart soars like the birds in your bright blue skies.
My love glows like the sunrise over the lost city.
I sing along to Ella Fitzgerald, A tisket A tasket.
I have a son out in the big wide world.”

from ‘Gap Year’ by Jackie Kay

The poems are a reminder of the delights, joys and endless surprises of watching a son grow through childhood into whatever happens next.

Selected by Jonathan Edwards.

Poems by Emily Blewitt, Josephine Corcoran, Glyn Edwards, Langston Hughes, Jackie Kay, Galway Kinnell, Li-Young Lee, David Morley, Sinéad Morrissey and Naomi Shihab Nye.

Cover illustration by Caroline Barker.