The Honey Gatherers takes its title from a phrase in Michael Ondaatje’s The Cinnamon Peeler, a poem which describes the need to be marked, and marked out, by love. The search, the sweetness, the sting and the death of love, are all to be found in this anthology. Wide-ranging in its inclusiveness, The Honey Gatherers celebrates the great passions of John Donne, Christina Rossetti, Shakespeare, Keats, Sir Thomas Wyatt and the beloved Anon, whilst con?rming the extraordinary gift to this headlong debate of 20th century poets. Pablo Neruda, Lorna Goodison, Brian Patten, Adrienne Rich, Tess Gallagher, W.H. Auden, Stevie Smith, Dorothy Parker, John Montague, Thom Gunn, Carol Ann Duffy and Sharon Olds are just some of those who meet in these pages. Here are poems about romantic love, the ideal of love, the hurt of love, lost or unrequited love and parting – all you might expect to ?nd in such a gathering – but here too are poems of friendship, surprise, celebration and consolation. This is a book which explores Raymond Carver’s big question ‘And what did you want?’ and offers some answers:

‘To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.’
– Raymond Carver: ‘Late Fragment’

Most love poetry anthologies only cover the classics. This one includes modern poets and erotic poetry as well.