Becoming a Tree Paperback / softback

A child climbs a tree and sprouts leaves from his fingertips - not magic, but imagination.

Ancient people drum and play flutes in the echoing caves of Lascaux.

A fire-eater in Mexico City goes to work. A Cairo family find treasure in a rubbish dump. Robin Hood turns up in the 21st century and goes online...

Becoming a Tree is a collection of poetry with three elements: personal, political and humorous.

With a wide range of subject matter and form, its defining feature is its diversity.

Becoming a Tree features a selection of people in history, from the tragic young Tsarevitch Alexei, killed by the Bolsheviks, to the noble Simon Bolivar.

There's also a fun section - poems that are playful, off-the-wall, wacky: the poet tames a sabre-tooth tiger; heroic Torvald Longtooth the otter sets off on an adventure to rival The Odyssey. And there is a nonsense poem that Lewis Carroll himself would have admired.

Poetry grows out of everyday things - a traffic roundabout, a TV commercial break - and James' collection features poems intended both for careful contemplation as well as for more light-hearted reading.

Becoming a Tree will appeal to both established fans of poetry and those interested in discovering more of the genre.