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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
As it’s #nationalpoetryday today here’s a piece commissioned for National Poetry Day’s Free The Word Project earlier this year. BBC Radio Wales listeners called in with a word they felt best reflected Wales. I got to choose my favourite word from these and write a poem on it. I chose ‘cwtch’, for my grandson Arthur ❤️. …. ADDED NOTE: I realise I’ve written on the PDF that this was ‘on’ National Poetry Day, when it should say ‘for’ National…
Today I hiked along the north Wales hills. This photograph (thanks Andy) has made me smile because it reminds me of how far I’ve come. Around 13 years ago the world changed quite dramatically and I felt as if I were going quite mad while at the same time discovering both myself and a deep and profound connection with nature. I had a compulsion to walk these hills as I tried to understand the new ways in which I was…