Tag: poem

Dyslexia

After 13, I seldom read books. I read girls,

And slowly lined them up

On a small shelf where the dust

Grew thicker on some, more than others,

And got lost in them for months on end.

Some were thumbed quickly,

Some were slow to start, but

Were worth the wait

Some were a laugh, but

Not worth a second read.

Most, I regret, were never finished.

And nearly all now forgotten.

Only one didn’t

Make the shelf.

–

She’s still on the table by my bed

Waiting for me to pick her up again tonight

And start reading on from the place,

Dog-eared in my mind, six years ago.

But I don’t.

Instead,

When the bed swallows me before sleep,

I’ll misquote whole chapters of her aloud.

In this naïve fable, the boy’s browsing

Adolescence matures

On the very last page;

Old enough to read her sad eyes

And know what love means, but

Bold enough to hold onto it like a man.

–

Published in ‘New Welsh Review’ 2000

The Road

The road was a bandage, a blanket, a bridge

Meandering with me as a rock to ripen like sugar

So we could taste the sweetness of foreign food

As we flew past in a blur.

–

We waited with wisdom in lay-bys

And drank with barbarians in strange pubs

But no price was ever sought –

Life was free.

–

Round the corner

A blind dog, a hungry cliff,

A black hole; diamond turned to coal,

And mechanics and

Doctors who counted,

Tallied our bill.

–

2012

The Bibliophants

Pantoum


In Annwn’s mines, in Annwn’s time,
Stories are born and stories die.
Some of them fall and some of them fly,
I tell you this with no word of a lie.

Stories are born and stories die
In cages and caves with walls of whys.
I tell you this with no word of a lie
In case your story is born to die.

In cages and caves with walls of why
Bibliophants breathe as do you and I.
In case your story is born to die
Take care not to look one in the eye.

Bibliophants breathe as do you and I
Some of them fall and some of them fly,
Take care not to look one in the eye,
Take care, not to see their ancient mind.

2016

Cestyll Cymru

Maen nhw’n codi cestyll newydd

Yng nghefn gwlad Cymru dlawd,

A chan nad oes un twr na murfwlch,

Maen nhw’n cael eu codi’n hawdd.

–

Dywed deddfau hael San Steffan;

Cerwch i Gymru, a phrynu tir!

Mae’n rhatach ‘na o lawer

Nac erwau costus swydd Caerlŷr.

–

Cytgan:

Felly dyma nhw’n dod dros y mynyddoedd,

Pawb efo’i loes gwyn yn ei law,

A chodi eu caerau cwynfanllyd,

Gan nad yw’r fro yn fan gwyn fan draw.

–

A thra bod Cymry yn methu deall y ‘City’

Gan fynnu iaith, cymuned a bro,

Bydd iaith a chymuned yn methu

Gan mai’r ‘City’ sy’n rhedeg y sioe.

–

A bydd cestyll newydd yn codi yng Nghymru,

Fel rhyw pla dirgel i’r Cymry di-glem,

A bydd arian yn ein tagu a’n claddu

Nes bod Llundain yn datgan ‘Amen’.

–

Cytgan:

Felly dyma nhw’n dod dros y mynyddoedd,

Pawb efo’i loes gwyn yn ei law,

A chodi eu caerau cwynfanllyd,

Gan nad yw’r fro yn fan gwyn fan draw.

–

Yr haf 2014 / Y gwanwyn 2019