Child Ballad by David Wheatley
POETRY BOOK SOCIETY RECOMMENDATION WINTER 2023 comic verse —Francesca Bell

—Francesca Bell

and growing apart

The Long Take is one of the most remarkable – and unclassifiable – books of recent years

coming in and going out

Child Ballad by David Wheatley<br><b>POETRY BOOK SOCIETY RECOMMENDATION WINTER 2023</b> comic verse —Francesca BellIn Child Ballad, David Wheatley's sixth collection, he explores a world transformed by the experience of parenthood. Conducting his children through landscapes of Northern Scotland, he follows pathways laid down by departed Irish missionaries and by wolves. He maps a rich territory of rivers, trees and mountains. Also present are histories, some evidenced, some no longer visible and yet to be inferred. Stylistically, Child Ballad is multifaceted,