A daughter will always be a daughter, and this beautiful and tender selection celebrates that joyful fact.
We begin with a birth and progress through the years via familiar landmarks; the beloved toys of early childhood and tricky teenage arguments lead to the inevitable moment when a daughter must leave home. A poem about teaching a daughter to swim becomes a moving expression of a rite of passage into independence:
“You will watch her leaving the shore behind
and the current will flow
the right way. That day,
the water will hold her…”
from ‘Teaching Your Daughter to Swim’ by Clare Shaw
Running through every poem there is an abiding sense of the power of the bond between a parent and daughter – and of course there is always love.
Poems by Michael Brown, SL Grange, Harry Guest, Joanna Ingham, James P Lenfestey, Kim Moore, Marilyn Nelson, Clare Shaw,
Anne Stevenson and Claire Walker.