Celia Warren

A beautiful collection of poetry that is great for the classroom but also helps to recall what it was like to fall in love poetry and language again. There are poems for every occasion - some are sad and thoughtful, others playful, all of them are easily accessible. The fact that it has Ecclasiastes 3:1-8 as an index to the poem's themes also felt just right to me. It is such a beautiful text.

It is likely not something you'd get away with in books intended for school in my country, or at least up here in the North. We're positively Bible-shy, lest someone take offense. It's a strange hypocrisy - we're encouraged to look at the sacred text of other religious groups and most of my students show a patronising respect for non-Christian religions while derisively saying of Christianity that it's silly make-belief and who would ever be religious.… (mer)