Open-mouthed

Here, in Open-mouthed, the reader can find a rich à la carte menu of poems, some al dente, others al fresco, succulent morsels plucked from hedgerows and kitchens in the UK and abroad. But why have four poets from Devon come together to create a collection of poems about food, some of them light-hearted, some more serious? For the pleasure of it, no doubt, but also to raise money for the Dartington 'Ways With Words' literary festival, specifically in order to help fund a bursary scheme enabling young students to attend the festival, an experience with the potential to broaden their interests and awaken their intellects.This culinary gang of four also hopes to make these poems available to a wider audience, particularly now that the resurgent interest in local food is flavour of the month. Combining this with poetry seems an obvious step forward, to educate and enliven our tastes.Alphabet Soup; Elvers; Eating Maize; The Meat Commission; Mushy Peas; Stuffing Balls; Curried Squirrel; The Hostess Trolley and Feeding the Dolls are just a few of the sixty-four poems. The poets are: James Crowden, who was born in Plymouth and has written nine books; Lawrence Sail who lives in Exeter and has published nine collections of poems, most recently Eye-Baby (Bloodaxe Books, 2006); Alan Peacock, who grew up in the Pennines and has published five collections of poetry and has lived in Devon since 1988; Elisabeth Rowe who read English at Oxford and whose first book of poems, Surface Tension, was published by Peterloo Poets in 2003; Carol Trewin, food correspondent of The Western Morning News, UK.