Wholesale Christmas Movies: A Double Bill of Festive Poems

What could be more joyful than the moment when – merry with turkey and plum pudding – we tumble onto the sofa to watch a film we’ve seen umpteen times before? And what could be more jolly than doffing hat, scarf and gloves to venture out into the cold for the year’s festive favourite at the local cinema? This special bumper edition of 20 poems, commissioned from leading poets, takes us on a cinematic roller-coaster via films ranging from Meet Me in St Louis! to Die Hard. After all: “It’s not that you want to escape your life – just that somewhere, very close by, in a room you’ve never explored, there’s a forest where snow falls in the warm light cast by a lamp.” from ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ by Clare Shaw Poems by Andre Bagoo, Panya Banjoko, Geraldine Clarkson, Jonathan Edwards, Katherine Gallagher, Matthew Hedley Stoppard, Stephen Keeler, Nick Makoha, Lorraine Mariner, Rob Miles, Jessica Mookherjee, Cheryl Moskowitz, James Nash, Bethany W Pope, Jacqueline Saphra, Tom Sastry, Clare Shaw, Penelope Shuttle, Gregory Woods and Holly Yuille. Cover illustration by Melissa Lhoirit.