Cymraeg – OUTSIDER

on borders and ecosystems

February 17, 2020

Sophie McKeandIn response to a week-long creative residency at the National Trust’s Chirk Castle, Jan/Feb 2020 To ascend the steep, tree-lined, bird-song-filled lane and face Chirk Castle’s imposing portcullis entrance, is to do no less than to hike through centuries of time. Multifaceted layers hang like bright linen sheets in the morning fog of these borderlands, of y ffîn, so that if you slow down for long enough you might feel a slight caress on the cheek, or a brush…

creating Cymraeg dailyconnectionwithnature poetry Wales

Balancing act

January 29, 2020

Finding my balance as an artist / as a woman // the ground shifts / & I stutter / until I understand that the dance isn’t / about knowing all the steps / but learning how to gracefully fall / in love with the process / of becoming. /// thanks for a lovely afternoon @lisaheleddjones and for helping me find my feet with it all 💗 More on this residency over in my Instagram Story Highlights.…

Cymraeg Europe feature politics

Walking the borderlands of Y Mers

September 10, 2019

Sophie McKeand Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself.Walt Whitman I am in love with swallows. They have become the mascot of our travels as we follow their migratory paths: north for summer, south for winter. Standing at the borderlands of Y Mers (The Welsh Marches in south Wales) with fellow collaborator Mark Daman-Thomas, we watch summer swallows swing determined arcs from farmhouse roofs out across ankle-high grasses to take flying insects on the wing then sling-shot…

creating Cymraeg vanlife

birdbrain

September 1, 2019

An old poem today inspired by one of my favourite birds, Dippers. There’s something utterly captivating about the way they dip-dip at the riverside, but don’t be fooled by this behaviour as they’re one of the few birds who can dive underwater to hunt in fast-flowing rivers. They’re exceptional wild swimmers and can also grip slippery rocks to wade beneath tumbling water when hunting. I haven’t seen any this year so far but I think that’s just because we haven’t…

Cymraeg dailyconnectionwithnature nature poetry

dod i glawr (‘Stiniog)

August 26, 2019

The title of this poem is a Cymraeg idiom ‘bring to light’, ‘Stiniog is short for Blaenau Ffestiniog, a place in north Wales where we used to go mountain biking. Some of my deepest connections with the land have happened after a particularly gnarly day of exercise. There’s something about pushing yourself physically across a landscape that allows the mind to seep into new places. There’s a lot of talk these days about how little value words have, it’s probably…

Cymraeg Europe poetry Wales

visiting Taliesin

August 24, 2019

Dwi’n caru Llyn Tegid. I love Bala Lake. It’s the birthplace of one of my favourite Cymraeg myths that tells the story of the origins of Cymru’s greatest mythic poet, Taliesin. It’s told that a powerful witch, Ceridwen, lived here. In a great cauldron of Awen (inspiration), she made a potion to transform her son into a great shapeshifter, but instead the magic accidentally transferred to a stable boy, Gwion Bach, who was enlisted to stir the potion for a…

books creating Cymraeg poetry travel

last blast of summer colours

August 23, 2019

Last blast of summer colour before autumn kicks in. The Slow-Time Traveller poetry pamphlet is available from the online shop. Check out the stories highlight on Instagram on the making of it above for a better look at the gorgeous letterpress cover designed by @andyrgarside 💕…

Cymraeg nature politics travel Wales

four bodies

August 13, 2019

Walking the borderlands of England / Cymru for Y Mers project with Mark Daman Thomas @farmhandle. Thinking what it means to belong to a place, to be accepted into the old ways, & maybe how the new generations are shapeshifting traditions across time & space. …

Cymraeg nature Wales

when I become firebirds

August 6, 2019

Walking the land of north Wales I’m reminded of how normal it feels to be surrounded by castles, when of course this isn’t the case. Many of the castles across this region were built by King Edward I of England in the thirteenth century as a way to subdue the indigenous Welsh peasants, to squash any further uprisings as, led by rebels such as Owain Glyndŵr, the Welsh battled for their freedom from English rule. Still the echoes of Edward’s…

Cymraeg Europe nature politics travel

Plygu

June 17, 2019

Travelling across Europe I am coming to realise how many more cultures exist in the liminal spaces between living people & history books; how many more words & stories grow like weeds in the manicured lawn of western cultural hegemony. I need to learn languages again. I don’t have any except English and Cymraeg (and my Welsh unravels a little more every day I don’t use it); although I can get by in French. I woke thinking of this older…

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