Poems for...Waiting
Click here for the list of fifty commissioned poets.
A significant number of well-known UK poets contributed to this collection of new work - such as
Carol-Ann Duffy, Andrew Motion, Fleur Adcock, John Agard, Roy Fuller, Dannie Abse, UA Fanthorpe, Selima Hill. Other contributors are unknown on the literary circuits. They come from the commissioner David Hart's own local circles, creative writing groups and so on.
The collection includes a number of non-English languages, most of these either Gaelic and south Asian. The Gaelic poems came from David Hart's own roots and contacts ; the south Asian poems are due to the good offices of Debjani Chatterjee.
The collection is remarkable not just for its prevailing high quality, but for its variety of theme and tone -
despite the common subject, there is no duplication.
In this instance I have chosen to name only the fifty poets included - not their poems.
Poems for...All Ages
Poems for...All Ages
For the list of poets and titles in this collection, click here.
The poems selected for this collection originally numbered over eighty, later reduced to fifty. This web-site may be an opportunity to revive over time a few of the missing thirty.
The fifty include old favourites by famous UK poets - Blake, Wordsworth, Yeats, Housman, DH Lawrence. There is a passage each from Beowulf and from the Song of Solomon. There is a translation by Ezra Pound from the Chinese, and by Anon from the Navajo.
The collection also includes eleven poems especially chosen for young children.
Click here for the list of titles and poets.
The "One World" collection offers a total of 45 poems from 27 different languages, each with its English version printed alongside. There are signicant language gaps and although we cannot hope and do not aim to provide a poem for every non-English language spoken in the UK, we hope in 2008 to rectify the most obvious ommissions.
There is work in this collection by poets of international reputation. The production of many of the poems has provided a rich and rewarding story in itself - in the securing of font, or translation or permission.
The collection includes ten poems chosen to celebrate the EU enlargement in 2004. They can be distinguished by the FCO logo along their respective bases. The logo itself looks pretty distinguished too.
Our contribution to the 2007 Mayor of London's Equalities Report stems directly from the "One World" collection. Several poems that appear in the Report came from that earlier collection. But new work was produced as well, and this time each poem is accompanied by a photograph of the poet, against a London background of his/her choice. Click here to scroll through the poems. The photographs are by Hugh Hill.
