poems
Tair cerdd gan Guillaume Apollinaire
Pont Mirabeau O dan bont Mirabeau rhed afon SeineAc ein serchauOes rhaid imi ddwyn i’m cofLlawenydd wastad yn dilyn y dolur Dechrau nosi taro’r cloc Treigla’r dyddiau sefyll wna i Law yn llaw arhoswn wyneb yn wynebTra dan y bontEin breichiau ymhlyg tremiau hir ton flinedig Dechrau nosi taro’r cloc Treigla’r dyddiau sefyll wna i […]
Catullus in the Kingsway
Here comes Tommo the TeethMr White, the dentist’s dream.Flashes ‘em at every man jack,Everywhichway. In the courtroom he sits,An intern for the defence team.While Counsel jerks the jurors’ tears,he just grins. In the crem up at Morriston, a mum weeps for her dear boy, her one and only.But he just grins. Whenever,Wherever,Whatever he’s up to,he […]
A painting by Vivienne Williams
1 Jug You know me well enough, so you think – White, sure, handle as a band, Standing just where I was put. You think you have me taped. You’ve the advantage of greater height, Enough to see my inside’s cool blue. I sense it gives you comfort, simple me Answers to your need for […]
Triniaethau
1 Majestic ‘Majestic! Dacw fe, ail dro ar y chwith.’ Gadael y car, dilyn troli â’i olwynion gwyrdroëdig ar hyd yr eiliau gwydr. Dyma ti’n sefyll wedi ymgolli rhwng Merlot a Malbec, yn cyfieithu Ffrangeg y labeli llawen i iaith y claf. ‘Digon imi allu cynnig ichi set o wydrau, rhad ac am […]
A Roman poet in west Wales
Martial – Marcus Valerius Martialis – was a first century Roman poet. He came to live in Rome from Augusta Bilbilis, near Calatayud in modern Spain, and made his name through his hundreds of short poems or ‘epigrams’. Witty, punchy and far too foulmouthed and sexually explicit for broadcast on Radio 4, only now are […]
Croeso, Ioan Tran, welcome!
A long bare road, Ioan bach, you’ve tramped, Dark months at sea, to meet us in this flash Of sudden day. You fled the lost land, and camped On deck through China, Red and Middle seas, dashed By Biscay storms to ground on Scottish stones. Picked up the accent, trekked south in Pennine rain (Millstone […]
A cold field in Croesyceiliog
i.m. Roger Cecil (1942–2015) ‘When birds come to suffer by severe frost, I find that the first that fail and die are the redwing-fieldfares, and then the song-thrushes’ (Gilbert White, 12 April 1770) In a cold field in Croesyceiliog no one saw me lie down to sleep or frost weave its lacework on […]
Knab Rock, summer 1996
In memoriam Evan Evans (1984-2013) 1 I walk down to the sea path – rust on horse chestnut leaves unprepared, this still day, to fall. 2 Fishing boats file across the bay – astern, black flags clear in the low afternoon light. 3 Crow, hands in pockets, scorns to hurry away – […]
Clerestory
Blackletter rules: Hymns. Propers. Pages. He is risen. R (red). But below From the cellist’s dark S (secretum) Four notes lift, Clear chancel’s arch Disaggregate Get caught By the high window Quiver a second, Rupture.
Arthur Blayney’s farewell to Gregynog, 1795
As I survey my estate And my blood’s come To nought In this parchment dry body And as I consider my kin’s line Scrolling back unbroken To Brochwel Ysgythrog Prince of Powys And down the lane As I plan my last journey To be laid, as I directed you, north Of Cynon’s church Here are […]