“It was during the process of writing that the amount of extra work my cousin and I caused my aunt struck me. Until then the poem had been little more than a list of her daily tasks, then a need to say sorry led to the prayer idea.”
Dear Gwen in Rhiwlas
Forgive us our grass-stained skirts
cowpatted socks
blackberried sleeves
as you carry them on your hip
into the field to the washing line.
Forgive us our What’s for dinner?
as you rub and scrub and wring
each sheet and pillowcase and towel.
Forgive us not hearing your prayer:
Come to me water pipe, save me
from the half-mile trek
to the well in the woods.
Come to me electricity, save me
from the primus stove
and coal-fired range.
Forgive us our shrieks and giggles
when a north wind snatches a shirt
and wraps it around the weather vane.
Forgive the vane its bowing,
the shirt its genuflect.
They prophesy
a twin tub to come.
I am a big fan of the epistolary poem. Have you written many letter poems and what inspired this one?
No, I haven’t written many, and those few that I have written didn’t begin that way. This one started out as a response to a writing prompt on the subject of ‘cleaning’. Other prompts arrived in my inbox and the ideas they generated wandered into this poem. Several drafts in it began to address my aunt, the hard-working subject of the poem, directly.
This is a beautifully observed poem describing rural life. Where did these images come from? I often remember Peter Blegvad’s note that writing could observed, imagined or remembered. Were these images observed, imagined or remembered?
Thank you. I spent many childhood holidays in my aunt’s home in what was then a remote Welsh village (these days it’s described as ‘semi-rural’). No electricity, no bathroom, just one cold water tap in the kitchen to serve the household; it was in complete contrast to my home in an industrial Lancashire town. The freedom and wildness that I enjoyed while spending time with my cousin had a huge impact on me. Most images in this poem were observed or came from my own and others’ recollections. I made up the weather vane.
There are other intriguing aspects of this poem, like the litany of prayers to ‘Forgive us’ and the different stanza lengths. Could you talk a bit more about technical aspects of writing the poem?
It was during the process of writing that the amount of extra work my cousin and I caused my aunt struck me. Until then the poem had been little more than a list of her daily tasks, then a need to say sorry led to the prayer idea.
I can’t really explain the differing stanza lengths other than to say that rhythm and assonance influence almost everything I write. Reading drafts out loud helps me judge if they’re working or not, and also helps decide line endings and stanza breaks. In this poem, the form evolved as the prayer idea developed. Finding it was satisfying and fun.
Robbie Burton
Robbie Burton (she/her) is the Poetry Society stanza rep for Cross Border Poets in North East Wales. She was a winner in the 2018 Ledbury Poetry Competition and highly commended in the 2019 Manchester Cathedral Poetry Competition. Her pamphlet Someone Else’s Street was published by HappenStance Press.
How I Write a Poem is our bi-monthly interview series digging in to the nitty-gritty of poetry writing. Explore the full series here.