Poet's Page
music and opinion from Wales' wandering poet.
Poetry Page
Pure poetry for an impure people:
"Occupy USA: Democracy Is Coming"
by Leonard Cohen
(Tell EVERYONE of the 99% to watch it
on Youtube - IT's BRILLIANT !)
IS THIS YOU?
"We would rather be ruined than changed;
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb across the moment
And let our illusions die."
- W.H. Auden
They hang the man and flog the woman
That steal the goose from off the common,
But let the greater villain loose,
That steals the common from the goose.
The Jeju Jewel called
‘Take your cruel weight of concrete stars from our feet.’
And where it slides into the sea, through this surf of truth
Red green yellow orange shiny from the silver lips of fishes,
The dance of weed,
Sang:
‘This land this earth and all its souls is just
One perfect clasp
Between two foolish cruel walls.’
‘Time – long overtime
To Stop.
Take your sour ships of hate, suspicion and waste
from our clear skies of ocean.’
Sub-marine
The rock holds hands
as we do,
yes, as we do - in the south, so the north, the east, the west.
Jill Gough
Cymru/Wales"
THE ULTIMATE HAIKU !!!
Words are energy;
let's gather, store and offer them
with utmost care.
AND THE WEST's DOGGEREL ANSWER?
"If you think you are beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't
It's almost a cinch you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you've lost.
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will:
It's all in his state of mind.
If you think you're outclassed, you are:
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
You'll ever win that prize.
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can."
Attributed to Author Napoleon Hill circa 1973
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
~ Rumi
We all understand that Capitalism relies upon
"individualism" to divide and rule us.
We might not want Mao's "Little Red Book",
and conformity, to free us from the disaster
of selfishness and greed... OR the old God
with a beard and lightning bolts...
yet there IS a unity which artists always fight
and struggle to express, which will save us all.
The Rhondda - at its finest - recognised Unity
and expressed it through international action...
to celebrate the YEAR OF THE RABBIT in China & elsewhere:
Out Of Hiding
Someone said my name in the garden,
while I grew smaller
in the spreading shadow of the peonies,
grew larger by my absence to another,
grew older among the ants, ancient
under the opening heads of the flowers,
new to myself, and stranger.
When I heard my name again, it sounded far,
like the name of the child next door,
or a favorite cousin visiting for the summer,
while the quiet seemed my true name,
a near and inaudible singing
born of hidden ground.
Quiet to quiet, I called back.
And the birds declared my whereabouts all morning.
~ Li-Young Lee
This is the lyric to a George Harrison Song
and is his least played song on Youtube...
.. rather proving the point!!!
SEE YOURSELF
"It's easier to tell a lie than it is to tell the truth
It's easier to kill a fly than it is to turn it loose
It's easier to criticize somebody else
Than to see yourself
It's easier to give a sigh and be like all the rest
Who stand around and crucify you while you do your best
It's easier to see the books upon the shelf
Than to see yourself
It's easier to hurt someone and make them cry
Than it is to dry their eyes
I got tired of fooling around with other people's lies
I'd rather find someone that's true
It's easier to say you won't than it is to feel you can
It's easier to drag your feet than it is to be a man
It's easier to look at someone else's wealth
Than to see yourself."
National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke.
National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke was born in
Cardiff in 1937 and now lives in rural Ceredigion
with her architect husband. She has 3 children.
In 1999 she received the Glyndwr Award for an
Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales.
Gillian Clarke’s poetry is widely known and loved
by younger readers. In part this is because a
selection of her poems has been set for GCSE
English for some years now. Gillian has pioneered
the teaching of creative writing and co-founded
Tŷ Newydd, the writers’ centre in North Wales,
which has gone from strength to strength for over 20 years.
According to the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy,
Gillian Clarke is "A superb performer of her own
work in her memorable and musical voice; a
tireless visitor to schools; a poet who for
decades has worked closely with teachers and
aspiring writers, Gillian Clarke is part of
the literary landscape of this country. As
such, it is easy to take for granted the impact
and influence of her work. Take an early poem,
perhaps, like ‘Letter from a Far Country’.
First heard on radio and published in the early
1980s, this poem subtly and lyrically describes
the everyday household responsibilities of a
woman with a full, ordered, demanding life at
home and a longed-for, free, dream-like life
elsewhere. We could read it as a poem about a
trapped housewife but it is so much more than
that. It is a moving and beautiful statement
about freedom and constraint. Freedom and
constraint - whether writing about women,
ecology, politics or the natural world - these
are the hallmarks of Gillian Clarke’s art."
Gillian Clarke:
"Poetry is the gift of our culture,
and poems come unbidden as spells,
prayers, dreams. I accept this medal
for Wales, and for all our poets."
A CHANGE, by Poet.
I WAS BORN LIKE MY NEIGHBOURS
IN THE CLEFT OF A MOUNTAIN SONG;
WHERE A SULPHUR WIND WHISPERS
OF A TIME WHEN THOSE WHO LOVE WERE STRONG:
WHEN THE HEART OF THE FACH & THE FAWR
STILL BEAT TO FREEDOM'S DRUM.
IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING -
NOW, A CHANGE HAS COME.
LIKE ORPHANS WE HAVE WANDERED
STRIPPED OF DIGNITY AND PEACE,
WHILE OUR LEADERS SHUFFLED CORRIDORS
AND DINED ON LIES AND GREASE:-
IN THE 'STUTE THEY TALKED TO SOCIALISTS
THEN BUILT ANOTHER SLUM...
IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING
NOW, A CHANGE HAS SURELY COME.
LET THOSE WHO WANTED WARRIORS
BURIED ON PENRHYS,
AND CHAPELS TURNED TO BINGO HALLS,
WITH HEAVEN ON A LEASE...
LISTEN TO THE HOWLING ROAR
OF THOSE THEY THOUGHT WERE DUMB:
IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING -
NOW, A CHANGE HAS COME !
TOO LONG WE ENDURED
SEPARATE AS GLASS,
MOUTHING SLOGANS TO SAVE A WORLD UNSOUND:
LETTING ENEMIES THROUGH BROKEN GATES PASS,
LEAVING SCARS ON OUR HEADLANDS
AND VALLEYS DROWNED
NOW THE RED KITE SOARS AGAIN;
WELSH OAKS ROOT, WHERE WELSH OAKS BELONG.
NOW THE RHONDDA FLOWS CLEAR AGAIN
NOW DREAMERS START, TO RIGHT EACH WRONG.
IF WE CAN SING TO THE HARPSTRUNG AIR,
CLUTCHING A FLAME FROM THE MINERS' SOUL,
IF WE GIVE EV'RYONE A BETTER SHARE - NOT SOME -
THEN IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING;
BUT A CHANGE - THANK GOD! - HAS COME.
The Cordell Country tourism marketing campaign
aims to change perceptions of the Valleys,
encourage more people to visit, and increase
the tourism spend in the area.
Alexander Cordell was inspired by the lives
and loves of the people of The Valleys...
and inspiration for all ages may be found
on the new-look Cordell Country website:
www.cordellcountry.org
In 2010 the Cordell Festival was held at
Rhondda Heritage Park as one of a number of
events held to commemorate the centenary
of the Tonypandy Riots.
POETRY ON THE WEB
The Poetry Translation Centre’s Poem Podcast is
an ideal way to hear a diverse range of poetry
from some of the world’s best loved poets, read
both in their original language and in English.
You can subscribe to the weekly Poem Podcast on
iTunes where there are already more than a dozen
poems to enjoy, in languages ranging from Arabic
to Zapotec. A new poem is added every Monday.
Go here to visit The Poetry Translation Centre:
http://www.poetrytranslation.org/downloads
A Week in Estonia is Philip Gross’ new blog
on the University of Glamorgan’s website:
http://philip-gross.blogs.glam.ac.uk/
Philip, who is the son of an Estonian wartime
refugee, was born in 1952 in Delabole, Cornwall.
In 2010 he won both the T.S Eliot Poetry Prize,
for his collection The Water Table (Bloodaxe,
2009), and Wales Book of the Year for I Spy
Pinhole Eye (Cinnamon, 2009) which features
photographs by Simon Denison. Philip is the
Professor in Creative Writing at the University
of Glamorgan, & has been, since 2004.
A Jacquard Shawl
A pattern of curly acanthus leaves,
and woven into one corner
in blue block letters half an inch tall:
MADE FROM WOOL FROM SHEEP
KILLED BY DOGS. 1778.
As it is with jacquards,
the design reverses to gray on blue
when you turn it over,
and the words run backward
into the past. The rest of the story
lies somewhere between one side
and the other, woven into
the plane where the colours reverse:
the circling dogs, the terrified sheep,
the meadow stippled with blood,
and the weaver by lamplight
feeding what wool she was able to save
into the faintly bleating, barking loom.
~ Ted Kooser
Diminution
I have read volumes,
Written volumes,
Taught from volumes.
Now my words are fewer,
More long breaths between them.
I look up after committing
A single phrase to paper,
Linger a while,
Note the long shadows
On blackjack oak
In the late afternoon sun.
At times, I give up
Words altogether, listen
To the wind, watch
The winter wheat grow, savor
The taste of silence,
And give myself over
To the speech of the stars.
