From Li Bai's 'Bring in the Ale' to Ted Kooser's 'Beer Bottle'; from Robert
Burns's' John Barleycorn' to Carol Ann Duffy's 'John Barleycorn' (no, you
are not seeing double), the poems collected here attest to humankind's long
and joyous (mostly) relationship with the world's most popular alcoholic
beverage. A surprising number of authors, and perhaps some surprising
authors, have added their tributes to the brew. Here, to name but a few, we
find Charles Baudelaire, John Betjamen, William Blake, Bertolt Brecht,
Raymond Carver, Amy Clampitt, Emily Dickinson, Benjamin Franklin, Robert
Graves, Langston Hughes, Eric Idle, E. Nesbit, Flann O'Brien, Frank O'Hara,
Sylvia Plath, Arthur RImbaud, Rumi and Hank WIlliams, all rather less than
sober. Unsurprisingly, 'Anon.' is widely represented, in particularly
exuberant spirits. There are recipes, and hangovers (inevitably); there's
singing ... a hymn to NInkasi, ancient Sumerian goddess of beer,
Prohibition protest songs and old English drinking catches; there is
philosophy (of a sort), and consolation. Whether pulling up at the
celestial bar in Keats's 'Mermaid Tavern' or at the grittier, jazzier one
in Carl Sandburg's 'Honky Tonk in Cleveland, Ohio', lovers of beer and
poetry are sure to find something to celebrate in these pages.