‘Instead of a Card’ poetry booklets make perfect presents – unusual, beautiful, worthwhile and definitely not for throwing away.

They come with an envelope and bookmark left blank for your message. 

Interesting and enjoyable to read, they make an excellent introduction to the work of contemporary and historical poets.

This edition of our much-loved mini-anthology of bicycle poems is a real treat. Invigorated by some delightful new poems, the selection takes us along the highways and byways of cycling lore, from a freewheeling nun relishing the exhilaration of being on a bike on a hot summer’s day to the young man cycling in his brand new soldier’s uniform at the start of World War One.

In a captivating poem about young love, a girl is waiting to meet a boy whose bicycle seems to encapsulate his glamour:

“He rides

A bicycle that glitters like

The wind.”

from ‘Girl, Boy, Flower, Bicycle’ by MK Joseph

Poignant, humorous and unexpected by turn, these poems will delight anyone who loves cycling – as well as those who just like to remember those carefree days when falling off didn’t seem to matter.

Poems by Connie Bensley, James Roderick Burns, Jonathan Davidson, Michael Donaghy, Jonathan Edwards, Jacqueline Gabbitas, MK Joseph, Derek Mahon, Paul McLoughlin, Helena Nelson.

Cover illustration by Rosalind Bliss.