Cerdd ar gyfer for Cymru’n Cofio – Estyn yn Ddistaw- Wales Remembers

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Y Gwyliwr   Picsileiddir mil o fylchau lle cwyd wynebau dan y don   Dringa haul dros fryniau at groesbren ddu   sy’n sgleinio dy lygaid nôl mewn iddi,   gan anadlu trefi, pentrefi, dinasoedd; galar a lynir â sment ar wal.   Pethau plufiog wedi’u gosod mewn corneli yn syllu nôl arnom. ​_____ Mae dy gerddi’n adrodd am dy gariad at y lonydd hyn:   briallu, mieri, cen, mwsog, bedw’n prifio.   Wrth gerdded i’r ysgol, carchar i grwt â phennau gliniau du   fe gnoaist ar bensil nes i’r dannedd gwrdd â’r canol.   Yna daeth rhywbeth i fritho’i uchelgais:   cyfryngu’r natur mewnol drwy emyn a sgrifennwyd  … Read More →

Commissioned Poem for Cymru’n Cofio – Estyn yn Ddistaw- Wales Remembers

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Watchkeeper for Gwilym Williams   Pixels break a thousand spaces where floating faces rise.   Sun clambers over hills to a black cross.   That shines your eyes back into it,   breathing in villages, towns, cities mourning cemented onto walls.   Plumed objects placed in corners looking back at us.   _____ Your poems tell me how you loved these lanes:   Primroses, brambles, lichen, moss, birches thickening.   Walking to school, a prison to a small boy with dirty knees   you chewed a pencil until teeth touched lead.   Then something flecked its ambition:   An inscape mediated the inscribed hymn   of fire, hearth, light. Patterns… Read More →

Reflection on the Poetry of War and Peace in Wales: Assembly for Wales, 19.02.19

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  • Categories: Events   •   
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  • by Nerys Williams

Holy Glimmers of Goodbyes 19th February 2019, National Assembly, Cardiff A Day of Reflection on the Poetry of War and Peace in Wales As the centenary of the First World War draws to a close, Literature Wales invites you to a day of reflection and discussion on war and peace, with performances, readings, commissioned lectures, and presentations from some of Wales’ leading poets and writers. The event is kindly sponsored by First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford AM and organised by Literature Wales with generous support by the Welsh Government’s Cymru’n Cofio Wales Remembers 1914-1918 First World War Centenary Programme. The day will include contributions from: National Poet of Wales,… Read More →

Brexit’s Hard Hit Neighbours

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Originally published in Welsh in O’r Pedwar Gwynt (Dec 2018)   Arriving at my final destination, I am slightly disoriented. I am travelling from Dublin to a work meeting in Northern Ireland. I have changed my train at Belfast and have caught another train to Coleraine. This is the furthest north I have travelled since living in the Irish Republic. Initially, I am greeted by friendly signs advertising the Bushmills whiskey distillery. There is also a North Coast Guided Tour for Game of Thrones departing from Coleraine’s Railway Place. During this short visit, I am reminded, by the loud conversations of a film unit during my motel breakfast, how important the success… Read More →

UTERUS/ Walking in Her Shoes: The Eighth Amendment Repealed

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  • Categories: Essays   •   
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  • by Nerys Williams

First Published in Welsh in O’r Pedwar Gwynt 30th May 2018 https://pedwargwynt.cymru/dadansoddi/gol/diddymur-wythfed-diwygiad With thanks to editor Sioned Puw Reynolds  and Angharad Penrhyn-Jones     We are walking behind a giant uterus. The uterus is made out of pink fluffy material. There are two feet visible underneath. Two wooden poles prop the most magnificent fallopian tubes and ovaries I have ever seen. As we speed up, one ovary keeps on bouncing off my daughter’s head. ‘What is that?’ she asks pointing above  ‘Those are called fallopian tubes’  I  answer, giving her a very elementary lesson in biology. People around us smile, they can hear the biological terminology in the midst of our… Read More →

Memoir of a virtual community in the 1980s (or, being a young woman into Welsh language music)

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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN WELSH  IN  O’R PEDWAR GWYNT FOR WELSH MUSIC DAY (FEB 9TH 2018) WITH MANY  THANKS TO EDITOR (s)  SIONED PUW ROWLANDS AND ANGHARAD PENRHYN JONES (and all bands concerned).   Writing in the sixties, American poet Frank O’Hara playfully encouraged the ‘Mothers of America’ to send their kids to the movies. He reasoned that doing so meant they would not get stuck in their room ‘hating you prematurely since you won’t have done anything horribly mean yet’ (Ave Maria) . If O’Hara had lived to see the 1980s, and been Welsh speaking, these lines might have been updated to: ‘Mamau Cymru plis gadewch i’ch merched fynd i gigs Cymdeithas… Read More →