Lazing on a picnic rug under a clear blue sky, what could be more lovely than reading poetry?
 
These ten poems have been selected to provide a perfect accompaniment to an open-air feast; some capture culinary delights such as strawberry tarts and custard while others have been chosen to add to the mood of carefree bliss that only a picnic on a summer’s day can offer.
 
From Jeremy Hooker’s thoughts while blackberrying to the quiet joy of being in a park with squirrels and daffodils in March, we are transported to enchanted times and places where day-to-day routines seem to have been suspended:
 
“In a little rainy mist of white and grey
we sat under an old tree,
drank tea toasts to the powdery mountain,”
from ‘The Picnic’ by Edwin Morgan
 
Whether read alone or to a friend or lover, these beautiful poems make ideal companions for a cucumber sandwich and a glass of fizz.
 
Poems by Wayne Burrows, Jacqueline Gabbitas, Katherine Gallagher, Jeremy Hooker, Mimi Khalvati, Edwin Morgan, Frank O’Hara, Peter Phillips, Gertrude Stein and Edna St. Vincent Millay.