The Birds and the Bees – a series of special editions that celebrate the splendour of the natural world and the modern classics of British nature writing:
H is for Hawk,
A Sting in the Tale,
The Running Sky,
Crow Country and
Bee JournalDesigned by and produced in partnership with
Timorous Beasties, the Scottish design studio famous around the world for their designs inspired by the natural worldWith a new introduction by Sean Borodale, unique to this editionSelected as one of the
Guardian Books of the Year 2011 in its original pamphlet format by Simon ArmitageOne poem from the collection, 'Queen', received a Bridport poetry prize in 2011, judged by Carol Ann Duffy
Sean Borodale was born in London and works as a poet and artist. His first collection of poetry,
Bee Journal, was shortlisted for the 2012 Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, the Costa Poetry Book Award and the T. S. Eliot Prize. In 2014 he was selected as one of twenty Next Generation Poets. He currently teaches Creative Writing at Royal Holloway.
Bee Journal is a poem-journal of beekeeping that chronicles the life of the hive.
It observes the living architecture of the comb, the range and locality of the colony; its flights, flowers, water sources, parasites, lives and deaths. Because of its genesis as a working journal, there is here an unusual intimacy and scrutiny of life and death in nature. The language is dense and clotted, the imagery thrillingly fresh, and the observing eye close, scrupulous and full of wonder.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR
Sean Borodale is without doubt the most exciting new poet I have read since Alice Oswald. His
Bee Journal raises the bar for us all and announces a thrilling new voice in British poetryTruly heady and intense poems, honey itself in poetic form, a sustained
tour de force of language and thoughtThis book is a kind of uncut home-movie of bees. I like its oddness and hurriedness, its way of catching the world exactly as it happens in the split-second before it sets into poetry. These are pre-poems, note-poems dictated by phenomena. Their context is bees, but their subject (intriguingly) is Time...Harbours great energy and abundant imagination...a strikingly original voiceBorodale is an extremely accomplished poet…the most beautiful expression of what it is like to live with bees that you could hope to find…they show a wonderful clarity of thought and expression and a great talent for capturing an impression. The recent rising popularity of beekeeping has spawned a number of popular books on the subject but this towers above them all in ambition and emotional effect. It is an exquisite window into bees and beekeeping
