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I'm Zoë Bridgley, and

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I'm editor of Poetry Wales,

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so I'm really glad to introduce Samantha

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today.

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And so I'm going to introduce our judge

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Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch

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And funnily enough, I've just been

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reviewing some of her poems

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in this new anthology,

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'Gorwelion Shared Horizons'

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edited by Robert Minhinnick

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in which she has some absolutely gorgeous

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hymns to trees, which I absolutely love.

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But Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch is a poet who

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has very much

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been

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a kind of personal role model to me.

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Definitely as a young poet reading

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'Rockclimbing in Silk'

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You know,

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it was such a real poetic work of genius,

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you know,

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an absolutely sumptuous book,

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I think, of her as a sumptuous writer.

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And so I was absolutely delighted

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that she was able to be the judge

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and to be able to pick out

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the poems that she really loved

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and felt passionate about.

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From the entries

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we had for this competition,

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I want to praise

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Frances as well, and also Jannat,

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who was ex manager of the magazine,

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because this project,

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I can't take any any

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kind of thanks or any any kind of credit

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for it.

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Really,

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this is something that just runs

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beautifully, is run by Jannat

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and is now run by Frances,

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absolutely beautifully,

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and so I want to thank them as well

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and say thank you for

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for making that work and for doing that.

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But yeah,

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so Samantha's won a lot of prizes.

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She's been shortlisted

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for the Michael Marks

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Award, the Roland Mathias Prize, Wales book of

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The Year.

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She's taught creative writing

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on many illustrious writing programmes,

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and she's done

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a lot of really

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fascinating projects apart

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from her excellent books,

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for example,

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collaborating with the composer

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and producer

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Dr. Nina Perry

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to write and perform

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in the Milk Way for BBC Radio three.

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And she's done all kinds of

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fascinating residencies

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at the National Wool

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Museum, Dylan Thomas Boathouse.

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And on her website it says at the moment

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she's actually

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working on her next collection,

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which I'm really excited about,

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and am awaiting very excitedly.

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So with all that out of the way,

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I'll handover to Samantha,

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who's going to introduce the poets

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who've been chosen for the Wales

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Poetry Award.

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Congratulations to all of you.

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I'm delighted for you.

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And I'll hand over to Samantha

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Samantha: Thank you very much.

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Zoë for that warm welcome.

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And I'd just like to say a quick

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thank you as well to our sponsors,

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Literature Wales,

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and my thanks too to Jannat Ahmed

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and to Frances for

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keeping me briefed.

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All along.

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Thank you very much to all the poets

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who entered the 2021 Wales Poetry Award.

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I know myself from entering competitions.

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What a daunting process

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it can be,

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just sending off your piece of paper

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or your PDF and wondering

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what will ever come of it.

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So as I

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read and re-read the work, I was struck

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not only by in several cases

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some thrilling

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command of language and emotional leaps,

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but I think equally

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by the range of experiences explored,

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making this a very difficult task.

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I had a long list

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of around about 100 poems,

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which I read out loud

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because I'm a fan of the spoken word,

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and in the end

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it was the poems that stayed with me,

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I think, which reached the shortlist.

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And these poems

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either they stayed with me

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in terms of the stories that they told

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or in terms of the form

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in which they were written,

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and in the case

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of many of the shortlisted poems,

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it was both.

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So

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thinking kind of more broadly, really.

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There are times that I'm sure

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that many of you will share this

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with me at the moment.

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There are times when poetry feels like

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it's the only place that we can turn

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to, whether as a reader,

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as a listener, or as a writer,

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when poetry is a way of

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coping with trauma

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and with the anxiety of these times,

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which seem to lurch from

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one set of troubling events to the next

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Quite a number of these poems addressed

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the experience of surviving the mental

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and physical effects

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of living in lockdown and many movingly

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observed an experience of vilification

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or abuse on account of the speaker's

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skin color or gender and other poems

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honed in on the bird life

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around us, noticing at close quarters

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the word of a curlew or a swallow.

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Several poems

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reflected on climate change, its impact,

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and what the speaker of the poem

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might do to take responsibility

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for preserving the natural world

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around us.

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There were other poems that examined

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the growing impact of Airbnb

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in second homes

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on communities and beauty spots around

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the coastline of the UK.

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And then there were others

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that endearingly remembered

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and celebrated

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the lives of dead loved ones,

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including people who had sadly

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passed away during COVID.

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Ambitious and lyrical, daring,

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unsettling there were lines

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from many of these poems

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which ran through my head

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week by week,

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as I read a handful at a time,

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and almost all of them

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interrogations, the darkest

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and the brightest of human experiences.

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So it's now my pleasure

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to welcome each of the poets

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shortlisted for the 2021 Wales

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Poetry Award in alphabetical order.

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To read their work.

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And I think it would be really lovely

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if each poet could

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introduce that poem, perhaps by giving us

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a sentence

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about the catalyst for writing the poem

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or the context in which it was written.

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So we're going

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to start with Tess

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Biddington, who's going to read her poem,

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'A Father Hanged for Poaching'

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Just say that

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from the opening of this poem.

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The opening line is 'Afterwards, they conveyed me

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from the laundry'

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all the way through to the final line,

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Where the speaker returns to the laundry

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This poem does not miss a step or falter

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It's a really convincing narrative

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in the voice of the daughter

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a cameo portrait, which itself,

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which is where the poem opens.

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So, Tess, if you'd like to read your poem.

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Thank you. 

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This poem, it kind of is one of those rare ones that

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seemed to write itself,

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and it came from a scrap of paper

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that I picked up.

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Actually,

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my dear friend

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Katherine, who's in the audience,

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used to be a teacher,

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and I visited her in the college,

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and there was a scrap of paper

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like a note

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which had some real kind

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of just fragments of writing.

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And the signature was S Harkins.

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That's all I had, and from that little note

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and out came this poem,

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so, it rarely happens like that,

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so I count myself very very lucky.

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And thank you

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for your lovely comments

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about it as well.

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'A Father Hanged for Poaching'

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"Afterwards,

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they conveyed me from the laundry

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to the darkish hall,

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much oak upon the walls and portraits.

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A mug of water brought.

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They said I was of Weak Constitution

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from my fainting.

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One picture had a brass plate with a name

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S Harkins, Painted by.

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Afterwards, again, I could not stand.

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and they said I was

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No Use til Recovered

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so I stayed by the kitchen stove.

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They gave me buttons in a green

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glass jar,

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hundreds, for sorting. And paper,

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so I fashioned drawings of Ladies

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with braided hair,

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like in S Harkins picture

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also the rope

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I drew like the braided hair

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I showed the light and the dark

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the two times like loving snakes

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Though this was not depicted anywhere

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in S Harkins as I recall

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I drew a Neck-tie also

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It was like my father's

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it was

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knotted loosely

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not like the rope in that

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the Neck-tie is purposed

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for decorating the throat

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Whereas

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the rope

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was Certainly Not Useful for this

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But more for tethering or hauling

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in my opinion. 
the skin caught up and pinched

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You could never reach out and burst

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S Harkins buttons

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through their stitched eyes

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so neat where they drew on and coloured

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the surprise of death like the sudden

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retching of a poison mushroom

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I got a hand fouled in the jar

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buttons lodged

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between my fingers or scattered

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and cook condemning with a stare

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then informing me

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there was little to choose

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between my skin

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and the whitewashed

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walls of the ice-house.

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I put myself in the green

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brocade gown of

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S Harkins Beautiful Lady

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so excellently portrayed.

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When all done

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I was Someone Else Entirely

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and did not lack for a father

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nor rot with shame.

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They offered lightish duties, but I said no,

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the Kindness already done was enough

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and so I returned to the Laundry."

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Thank you.

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Samantha: Thank you so much, Tess

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And for me, it's really fascinating to to

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to hear the poem read by its author

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because I've just had them

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going round

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in my head, in my voice,

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or a kind of version of my voice.

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So I've been looking forward

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to this moment

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when I can get them out of my head and

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and hear them in your voices.

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So our next reader is Robert

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Bodman with the poem 'Outsider'

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and this poem

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is really interesting

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because the speaker uses

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a series of questions and lists

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to underline the key theme of the poem,

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which is the experience

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of being perceived as an outsider

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and by choosing to use repetition

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at the beginning

00:11:06:19 - 00:11:08:24
rather than the end of the lines.

00:11:08:24 - 00:11:10:06
The writer allows the reader

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to put themselves

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immediately, kind of more easily

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into the speaker's shoes

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Robert: Right, 'Outsider'

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was an original poem,

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that I wrote at the beginning of the millennium

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and was originally 'Pigmentation'

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It was one of my first attempts,

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and although 'Outsider'

00:11:30:05 - 00:11:31:20
is probably the third

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or fourth revised,

00:11:33:02 - 00:11:35:14
attempt, it has much of the same idea

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of discrimination

00:11:37:02 - 00:11:39:10
and the lack of understanding for it.

00:11:40:08 - 00:11:42:19
And I'll read it to you now.

00:11:43:11 - 00:11:43:21
Samantha: Thank you

00:11:44:21 - 00:11:47:24
Robert, reading 'Outsider'
"Didn't get the prediction of the job.

00:11:48:05 - 00:11:50:18
Didn't get the seat on the bus.

00:11:50:18 - 00:11:53:01
Didn't get the smile the others got.

00:11:53:10 - 00:11:55:22
Wouldn't mind, but I was being kind.

00:11:56:04 - 00:11:57:00
Ddn't understand

00:11:57:00 - 00:11:59:06
the jokes, Written on graffiti walls.

00:11:59:13 - 00:12:01:04
Didn't know the rituals

00:12:01:04 - 00:12:03:05
for passing symbols of wickedness.

00:12:03:11 - 00:12:04:17
Didn't care for eyes

00:12:04:17 - 00:12:06:15
that forwarned me as a stranger.

00:12:07:21 - 00:12:09:02
It did not matter.

00:12:09:02 - 00:12:10:07
my mistake

00:12:10:07 - 00:12:12:08
of misunderstanding the quenelle.

00:12:12:08 - 00:12:13:11
It was not my face

00:12:13:11 - 00:12:15:02
they didn't know.

00:12:15:02 - 00:12:17:08
Who could see their intent?

00:12:17:12 - 00:12:19:22
Who could see their fuelling hatred?

00:12:19:22 - 00:12:21:20
Who could feel their laughter?

00:12:21:20 - 00:12:22:24
Why they didn't favor

00:12:22:24 - 00:12:25:08
binding diversity is offensive.

00:12:25:12 - 00:12:28:06
Why I didn't know it was funny beats me.

00:12:28:13 - 00:12:30:05
Why I consider them equal,

00:12:30:05 - 00:12:32:12
subtracts my intellect to theirs.

00:12:32:18 - 00:12:35:03
Why do they beat chests and hollow, out

00:12:35:03 - 00:12:36:20
their primal aims?

00:12:36:20 - 00:12:39:14
To prevent me being who and what I' am

00:12:39:18 - 00:12:41:12
To consider the unknown.

00:12:41:12 - 00:12:42:24
To believe in me.

00:12:42:24 - 00:12:45:03
To reason with my equality.

00:12:45:03 - 00:12:46:19
To find me affable.

00:12:46:19 - 00:12:50:07
It did not make sense.
Why it was to them

00:12:50:21 - 00:12:53:09
the forbidden color of my pigmentation?"

00:12:56:04 - 00:12:58:00
Thank you very much, Robert.

00:12:58:00 - 00:12:59:08
So

00:12:59:19 - 00:13:01:22
we're going to move now to hear

00:13:01:22 - 00:13:03:08
Miles Bradley

00:13:03:08 - 00:13:04:24
and the title of his poem is

00:13:04:24 - 00:13:07:10
'Single Man with Dog'

00:13:07:10 - 00:13:09:19
And this is a wonderful prose poem

00:13:10:07 - 00:13:11:18
in three parts.

00:13:11:18 - 00:13:12:23
And on one level,

00:13:12:23 - 00:13:14:01
it's it's a journey

00:13:14:01 - 00:13:15:19
through a fashion museum,

00:13:15:19 - 00:13:16:20
but it's also a journey

00:13:16:20 - 00:13:19:18
through a moment in time.

00:13:19:18 - 00:13:21:14
And that moment in time is 

00:13:21:14 - 00:13:23:10
sort of slowed down

00:13:23:10 - 00:13:26:23
by having the poem set up into three

00:13:26:23 - 00:13:28:01
long stanzas.

00:13:29:01 - 00:13:30:02
And I think to

00:13:30:02 - 00:13:31:13
my mind, anyway,

00:13:31:13 - 00:13:33:09
each of those stanzas

00:13:33:09 - 00:13:35:15
reflects or acts as a room

00:13:35:15 - 00:13:36:09
in the museum

00:13:36:09 - 00:13:38:21
that the speaker is talking about.

00:13:38:21 - 00:13:39:23
It's also a moment in time

00:13:39:23 - 00:13:41:18
through a period in a relationship,

00:13:41:18 - 00:13:44:04
one in which the speaker's dog and

00:13:44:21 - 00:13:47:06
I think also their clothes play

00:13:47:06 - 00:13:49:20
an important navigatory role.

00:13:49:20 - 00:13:50:16
It's witty,

00:13:50:16 - 00:13:52:21
but it's also tinged with sadness.

00:13:53:21 - 00:13:54:09
Miles: Hiya

00:13:56:15 - 00:13:57:01
cool.

00:13:57:01 - 00:13:57:19
Okay.

00:13:58:05 - 00:13:59:14
I have immediately lost the tab

00:13:59:14 - 00:14:00:22
I had the poem in...

00:14:01:09 - 00:14:04:04
Ok, yeah, this poem is pretty

00:14:04:04 - 00:14:05:14
much just a dream

00:14:05:14 - 00:14:07:01
I had after seeing the Mike

00:14:07:01 - 00:14:08:02
Wells movie 'Beginners'

00:14:08:02 - 00:14:09:18
Then the third paragraph is

00:14:09:18 - 00:14:10:10
something I've been trying

00:14:10:10 - 00:14:11:24
to find a home for forever.

00:14:11:24 - 00:14:12:19
So, yeah,

00:14:13:10 - 00:14:15:11
'Single Man, With Dog'

00:14:15:11 - 00:14:17:18
"We meet at the fashion museum.

00:14:17:18 - 00:14:19:14
You descend from the heavens in the lobby

00:14:19:14 - 00:14:20:22
through a layer of cotton clouds

00:14:20:22 - 00:14:22:06
taped to the ceiling,

00:14:22:06 - 00:14:24:01
painted grey by a visiting school group

00:14:24:01 - 00:14:25:15
that they get to do the creative labor

00:14:25:15 - 00:14:26:01
for free.

00:14:27:04 - 00:14:27:14
You said

00:14:27:14 - 00:14:28:07
you like my dog

00:14:28:07 - 00:14:29:03
and you want to get to know his

00:14:29:03 - 00:14:30:07
likes and dislikes.

00:14:30:07 - 00:14:31:10
I said he likes, you know,

00:14:31:10 - 00:14:33:02
mostly normal dog stuff.

00:14:33:02 - 00:14:34:12
Long walks in the mud.

00:14:34:12 - 00:14:35:15
Chicken and cheese.

00:14:35:15 - 00:14:36:19
Pop-punk.

00:14:36:19 - 00:14:37:09
Movies where

00:14:37:09 - 00:14:37:23
sad stylish

00:14:37:23 - 00:14:39:22
people in their 30s meet at parties

00:14:39:22 - 00:14:40:10
and make each other

00:14:40:10 - 00:14:41:21
feel a little less alone for a while

00:14:41:21 - 00:14:43:10
before there's some logistical reason

00:14:43:10 - 00:14:44:23
they can't keep seeing each other,

00:14:44:23 - 00:14:45:09
or else maybe

00:14:45:09 - 00:14:46:01
it's one of those endings

00:14:46:01 - 00:14:46:20
that seems like

00:14:46:20 - 00:14:47:15
it has nothing to do

00:14:47:15 - 00:14:49:17
with the preceding 95 minutes

00:14:49:17 - 00:14:50:20
but after you think about it

00:14:50:20 - 00:14:51:10
for a few days

00:14:51:10 - 00:14:51:16
you realize

00:14:51:16 - 00:14:52:15
it was probably saying something

00:14:52:15 - 00:14:53:05
about mortality

00:14:53:05 - 00:14:54:23
and limits of human connection.

00:14:54:23 - 00:14:56:10
He really likes those, you ask.

00:14:56:10 - 00:14:58:03
I say yes, he loves them,

00:14:58:03 - 00:14:59:00
but they make me sad

00:14:59:00 - 00:14:59:23
so I need someone else

00:14:59:23 - 00:15:00:20
to watch them with us

00:15:00:20 - 00:15:02:21
who can hold my hand in the dark.

00:15:02:21 - 00:15:04:15
Doesn't he hold your hand, you ask.

00:15:04:15 - 00:15:06:02
I think he probably would if he could.

00:15:07:05 - 00:15:08:00
II.

00:15:08:20 - 00:15:09:11
We walk through a long

00:15:09:11 - 00:15:11:19
hall documenting changes in dress

00:15:11:19 - 00:15:13:01
1930-1980.

00:15:13:01 - 00:15:14:03
There's a series of cardboard

00:15:14:03 - 00:15:15:17
cut outs posed in party scenes,

00:15:15:17 - 00:15:16:11
good parties,

00:15:16:11 - 00:15:17:16
not all the way showbiz but at least

00:15:17:16 - 00:15:20:03
a little showbiz. "Say say showbiz again".

00:15:20:03 - 00:15:21:09
We drink milkshakes from large

00:15:21:09 - 00:15:22:11
styrofoam cups,

00:15:22:11 - 00:15:22:19
consider

00:15:22:19 - 00:15:24:04
spiking them with liquor,

00:15:24:04 - 00:15:25:20
get sidetracked thinking about styrofoam,

00:15:25:20 - 00:15:27:06
how you really get those anymore,

00:15:27:06 - 00:15:27:18
how they always make

00:15:27:18 - 00:15:29:14
me think of leisure center cafes,

00:15:29:14 - 00:15:30:22
sitting on the edge of a swimming pool

00:15:30:22 - 00:15:31:23
in fake tropical heat

00:15:31:23 - 00:15:33:09
surrounded by plastic plants,

00:15:33:09 - 00:15:34:16
cursing my young body,

00:15:34:16 - 00:15:36:23
assuming it would get better eventually.

00:15:36:23 - 00:15:38:21
I was afraid of everything.

00:15:38:21 - 00:15:40:23
You notice I've stopped walking.

00:15:40:23 - 00:15:43:01
The air doesn't move for a moment.

00:15:43:01 - 00:15:44:01
We realize the dog is running

00:15:44:01 - 00:15:44:22
wild through the 30's

00:15:44:22 - 00:15:46:07
and I worry he's going to take out a flapper.

00:15:47:09 - 00:15:48:00
III.

00:15:48:21 - 00:15:49:13
Your favorite outfit

00:15:49:13 - 00:15:50:10
is the most comfortable thing

00:15:50:10 - 00:15:51:23
you own - not physically

00:15:51:23 - 00:15:52:19
but the set of clothes

00:15:52:19 - 00:15:53:24
that makes the you in the room

00:15:53:24 - 00:15:54:18
look the most like the

00:15:54:18 - 00:15:56:18
you in your head. Your favorite outfit

00:15:56:18 - 00:15:58:20
is a costume, an armor, they all are,

00:15:59:03 - 00:15:59:23
but your favorite is the one

00:15:59:23 - 00:16:00:11
that the cartoon

00:16:00:11 - 00:16:01:02
character of you

00:16:01:02 - 00:16:02:15
would wear in every single episode

00:16:02:15 - 00:16:03:14
and there would never be a cute

00:16:03:14 - 00:16:04:09
joke acknowledging that

00:16:04:09 - 00:16:05:18
you only ever wear one outfit

00:16:05:18 - 00:16:07:17
because it's not that kind of show.

00:16:08:01 - 00:16:08:17
Your favorite outfit

00:16:08:17 - 00:16:10:05
does ok for shopping, for browsing,

00:16:10:05 - 00:16:11:00
for lunching,

00:16:11:00 - 00:16:11:21
for coffee,

00:16:11:21 - 00:16:13:01
for fast-casual dining,

00:16:13:01 - 00:16:15:04
for exploration, for train journeys,

00:16:15:04 - 00:16:17:06
for movie going for spring, for fall,

00:16:17:15 - 00:16:19:01
for dog walks, for libraries

00:16:19:01 - 00:16:21:06
and galleries, and museums, obviously."

00:16:22:03 - 00:16:22:18
Thanks

00:16:24:08 - 00:16:27:17
Samantha: Thank you very much, Miles.

00:16:27:17 - 00:16:30:08
So next up is Faith

00:16:30:12 - 00:16:33:07
MW Buckley with her poem 'Us'.

00:16:34:04 - 00:16:36:07
Now, this heartfelt narrative poem,

00:16:36:16 - 00:16:38:04
which addresses the question

00:16:38:04 - 00:16:40:21
that is articulated early on in the poem,

00:16:40:21 - 00:16:41:21
and the question is,

00:16:41:21 - 00:16:44:09
'Why do you need pride anyway?'

00:16:44:09 - 00:16:46:01
It's asked by someone on the bus,

00:16:46:01 - 00:16:47:16
and the speaker proceeds

00:16:47:16 - 00:16:49:14
to address this question

00:16:49:14 - 00:16:52:18
very clearly, very rationally, calmly,

00:16:53:00 - 00:16:54:05
verse by verse,

00:16:54:05 - 00:16:55:10
backed up by

00:16:55:10 - 00:16:56:16
well thought-out arguments,

00:16:56:16 - 00:16:57:08
all the while

00:16:57:08 - 00:16:59:07
with a kind of rhythmical beat

00:16:59:07 - 00:17:02:18
which serves to propel the poem forward

00:17:02:18 - 00:17:04:16
to its important conclusion.

00:17:06:00 - 00:17:08:15
So, Faith.

00:17:09:01 - 00:17:09:14
Faith: Thank you

00:17:09:23 - 00:17:11:19
So I wrote this

00:17:11:19 - 00:17:14:01
originally when I was living in Leeds

00:17:14:01 - 00:17:16:21
a couple of years ago for Leeds Pride.

00:17:17:07 - 00:17:19:10
And it is called 'Us'

00:17:21:00 - 00:17:22:15
"Pride, proud,

00:17:22:15 - 00:17:24:11
lost, found.

00:17:24:11 - 00:17:26:14
Why do you need pride anyway?

00:17:26:15 - 00:17:28:05
Spits the woman on the bus,

00:17:28:05 - 00:17:29:21
not so far away,

00:17:29:21 - 00:17:32:11
Not so far away from Lucy and Jess,

00:17:32:17 - 00:17:33:21
Clasping each other's hands

00:17:33:21 - 00:17:35:12
supressing the stress.

00:17:35:12 - 00:17:37:11
We need pride for those little boys

00:17:37:11 - 00:17:38:19
locked in their room.

00:17:38:19 - 00:17:40:01
For the hundreds of thousands

00:17:40:01 - 00:17:41:10
who've been taken too soon...

00:17:41:10 - 00:17:42:03
Because their bodies

00:17:42:03 - 00:17:45:00
don't look like the way they feel

00:17:45:00 - 00:17:46:10
For that stomach-clenching moment

00:17:46:10 - 00:17:49:01
that is all too real...
To so many of us

00:17:49:01 - 00:17:50:13
when the best friend says,

00:17:50:13 - 00:17:51:05
A reply to

00:17:51:05 - 00:17:53:12
"I love you, but not in that way."

00:17:53:12 - 00:17:55:06
When you should like Snow White

00:17:55:06 - 00:17:56:02
but prefer Prince

00:17:56:02 - 00:17:57:24
Charming and Aladdin and Buzz

00:17:57:24 - 00:17:59:12
and it's all so disarming.

00:17:59:12 - 00:18:00:22
The pride is more than the way

00:18:00:22 - 00:18:01:23
that we feel,

00:18:01:23 - 00:18:02:23
It's for Stonewall

00:18:02:23 - 00:18:05:09
and Marsha, that moment too real...

00:18:05:16 - 00:18:07:04
When the Police slammed their heads

00:18:07:04 - 00:18:08:22
into the dirt to the ground,

00:18:08:22 - 00:18:10:06
For the abuse that they thrust

00:18:10:06 - 00:18:11:12
when there's no one around,

00:18:11:12 - 00:18:12:05
For our brothers

00:18:12:05 - 00:18:14:04
and our sisters who are dying in the hands

00:18:14:04 - 00:18:15:00
of Police

00:18:15:00 - 00:18:15:21
and of Russians

00:18:15:21 - 00:18:17:20
and in closer lands, 
In London

00:18:17:20 - 00:18:18:17
where girls are forced

00:18:18:17 - 00:18:20:03
to kiss on a bus,

00:18:20:03 - 00:18:22:04
For the amusement of children

00:18:22:23 - 00:18:25:13
What has happened to us?

00:18:26:15 - 00:18:27:05
Pride

00:18:27:05 - 00:18:28:09
to Protect us,

00:18:28:09 - 00:18:30:18
help us, save us, unite us.

00:18:31:00 - 00:18:33:24
Black Lives Matter, queer lives

00:18:33:24 - 00:18:36:02
matter, OUR LIVES MATTER.

00:18:37:10 - 00:18:39:12
It's for our brothers and sisters

00:18:39:12 - 00:18:40:06
a long time

00:18:40:06 - 00:18:42:05
passed,
Marching in the streets,

00:18:42:05 - 00:18:44:08
rainbows tied to the mast
"Homes

00:18:44:08 - 00:18:45:03
for the homeless,

00:18:45:03 - 00:18:46:18
and food for the poor!"

00:18:46:18 - 00:18:48:22
To want to love who they love,

00:18:48:22 - 00:18:50:24
that's who they did it for.

00:18:50:24 - 00:18:52:05
For the Butch for the Twink,

00:18:52:05 - 00:18:53:18
For the Trans, for the Bi,

00:18:53:18 - 00:18:54:13
For the allies

00:18:54:13 - 00:18:55:21
beside you, 
Asking

00:18:55:21 - 00:18:58:02
why you can't marry who you love,

00:18:58:10 - 00:18:59:15
Or kiss on the street

00:18:59:15 - 00:19:02:06
So we take to our towns and we vote

00:19:02:18 - 00:19:05:09
with our feet

00:19:05:14 - 00:19:08:15
And with love, and our actions, 
And our hearts

00:19:08:15 - 00:19:11:18
and our care,

Pride until Equality

00:19:11:23 - 00:19:14:17
Surely that's fair?

00:19:14:17 - 00:19:17:00
So why do you need Pride?

00:19:17:00 - 00:19:19:03
The woman asks on the bus.

00:19:19:03 - 00:19:21:13
Because it's you and it's them

00:19:21:24 - 00:19:24:10
And we need Pride 'til it's 'US"

00:19:25:12 - 00:19:26:09
Thank you.

00:19:28:04 - 00:19:29:23
Samantha: Thank you so much.

00:19:29:23 - 00:19:32:22
I just love the way that poem comes back

00:19:32:22 - 00:19:33:20
to its

00:19:33:20 - 00:19:34:23
initial premise,

00:19:34:23 - 00:19:37:07
and it's all just done so lyrically.

00:19:37:21 - 00:19:38:13
Thank you

00:19:38:13 - 00:19:38:23
Faith.

00:19:41:02 - 00:19:43:05
So our next reader is

00:19:43:24 - 00:19:45:06
Jeannette Burton,

00:19:45:06 - 00:19:47:16
and the title of the poem is 'A poem

00:19:47:16 - 00:19:50:06
in which my Dad knows Great Britain

00:19:50:06 - 00:19:52:16
like the back of his hand'

00:19:52:16 - 00:19:54:09
And what really struck me about this

00:19:54:09 - 00:19:55:05
astonishing poem

00:19:55:05 - 00:19:56:08
is that in spite

00:19:56:08 - 00:19:58:00
of the enormous amount of detail

00:19:58:00 - 00:19:58:16
that in it

00:19:58:18 - 00:20:00:17
the speaker never gets bogged down.

00:20:00:17 - 00:20:02:18
So no word is out of place.

00:20:02:18 - 00:20:04:06
And in fact, every word

00:20:04:06 - 00:20:06:06
contributes to the speaker's argument,

00:20:06:06 - 00:20:07:20
which itself delineates

00:20:07:20 - 00:20:10:02
the journey of a childhood

00:20:10:03 - 00:20:12:23
dad to dad as he is now.

00:20:13:08 - 00:20:14:00


00:20:14:00 - 00:20:16:07
So Jeannette

00:20:18:14 - 00:20:20:05
Jeanette: Hi

00:20:20:05 - 00:20:22:09
Am I - I'm not on mute?

00:20:22:09 - 00:20:23:07
Yes, thank you

00:20:24:20 - 00:20:27:00
for including it in the shortlist

00:20:27:00 - 00:20:28:07
It's really lovely.

00:20:28:07 - 00:20:29:09
I'm just waiting for it

00:20:29:09 - 00:20:31:21
to appear on screen so I can

00:20:31:21 - 00:20:33:23
so I can read it

00:20:34:23 - 00:20:35:20
Yes. So this is.

00:20:35:20 - 00:20:36:14
Yeah, this is really

00:20:36:14 - 00:20:38:00
just inspired by I'm

00:20:38:00 - 00:20:40:20
writing a lot of poems about my dad.

00:20:40:24 - 00:20:41:10
Really,

00:20:41:10 - 00:20:42:18
So this is

00:20:43:13 - 00:20:45:06
just one of those and

00:20:45:06 - 00:20:47:00
based really on a true story

00:20:47:00 - 00:20:48:05
about how he sort of

00:20:48:05 - 00:20:50:19
rarely gives me any decent directions.

00:20:52:03 - 00:20:54:06
So that's what it's sort of based on

00:20:54:17 - 00:20:55:14
'Poem

00:20:55:14 - 00:20:56:20
in which my dad knows

00:20:56:20 - 00:20:59:03
Great Britain like the back of his hand'

00:20:59:03 - 00:21:00:20
"Whilst other dads had their own

00:21:00:20 - 00:21:02:18
particular superpowers,

00:21:02:18 - 00:21:03:11
such as building

00:21:03:11 - 00:21:04:06
entire model

00:21:04:06 - 00:21:06:08
railway villages in their lofts,

00:21:06:20 - 00:21:09:08
skippering scout groups to

00:21:10:01 - 00:21:12:14
underground caves in the Peaks, or else

00:21:12:14 - 00:21:14:14
the ability to miraculously produce

00:21:14:14 - 00:21:15:14
coins from behind ears,

00:21:15:14 - 00:21:16:10


00:21:16:10 - 00:21:18:08
my dad wowed with his in-built

00:21:18:08 - 00:21:20:01
sense of perfect direction

00:21:21:23 - 00:21:23:15
He stunned lost

00:21:23:15 - 00:21:24:03


00:21:24:03 - 00:21:25:03
lost motorists

00:21:25:03 - 00:21:27:00
with his navigational wizardry

00:21:27:00 - 00:21:27:18
his detailed

00:21:27:18 - 00:21:29:11
knowledge of town centers

00:21:29:11 - 00:21:30:11
his confidence

00:21:30:11 - 00:21:31:22
and explaining and exclaiming

00:21:31:22 - 00:21:32:23
Cathederal Road?

00:21:32:23 - 00:21:33:22
Oh yes, of course, now...

00:21:33:22 - 00:21:36:23
Adopting the fixed surety of a World Cup

00:21:37:02 - 00:21:40:01
football referee, he'd poker straight his arm

00:21:40:07 - 00:21:41:05
flatten in his hand

00:21:41:05 - 00:21:43:09
point towards a distant T-junction.

00:21:43:22 - 00:21:45:04
He'd rescue drivers

00:21:45:04 - 00:21:47:15
from frustrated loops of one way systems

00:21:47:21 - 00:21:49:02
and bedazzle bikers

00:21:49:02 - 00:21:51:01
with his verbal cartography

00:21:51:01 - 00:21:52:22
of city suburbs.

00:21:52:22 - 00:21:54:01
Kids in backseats

00:21:54:01 - 00:21:55:04
watch watch closely

00:21:55:04 - 00:21:56:09
for the sleight of hand

00:21:56:09 - 00:21:57:15
the give-away road atlas

00:21:57:15 - 00:21:59:13
up his sleeve,

00:21:59:13 - 00:22:00:23
But I could have told them

00:22:00:23 - 00:22:02:10
that he didn't rely on maps.

00:22:02:10 - 00:22:03:13
Or if he did,

00:22:03:13 - 00:22:05:03
it was a glance before it,

00:22:05:03 - 00:22:06:03
before a journey

00:22:06:03 - 00:22:07:05
just for show

00:22:07:05 - 00:22:07:23
like a famous

00:22:07:23 - 00:22:08:21
pianist briefly

00:22:08:21 - 00:22:10:13
flicking through the sheet music

00:22:10:13 - 00:22:12:03
then playing Chopin's Nocturne

00:22:12:03 - 00:22:13:23
number two in E-flat without once

00:22:13:23 - 00:22:15:22
looking up from the keys

00:22:15:22 - 00:22:17:11
on summer holidays to the coast.

00:22:17:11 - 00:22:19:20
We never doubted we'd get there

00:22:19:20 - 00:22:21:09
as planned. On time,

00:22:23:02 - 00:22:24:24
no wrong turns or arguments over

00:22:24:24 - 00:22:26:12
best possible routes.

00:22:26:12 - 00:22:27:17
My dad had the

00:22:27:17 - 00:22:29:03
migratory instinct

00:22:29:03 - 00:22:30:12
of a bird traveling south

00:22:30:12 - 00:22:31:23
from his winter nest in Belper

00:22:31:23 - 00:22:33:08
to spend the warmer months

00:22:33:08 - 00:22:34:19
wading in the paddling pools

00:22:34:19 - 00:22:37:05
of various caravan parks.

00:22:37:05 - 00:22:38:16
Now he has no time for

00:22:38:16 - 00:22:40:17
Google Maps tries to outwit SatNav

00:22:40:20 - 00:22:42:11
by cutting across country,

00:22:42:11 - 00:22:43:17
driving along narrow

00:22:43:17 - 00:22:45:00
lanes, backroads

00:22:45:00 - 00:22:47:00
arriving at that little checkered flag

00:22:47:00 - 00:22:49:01
at least ten minutes early.

00:22:49:07 - 00:22:51:05
Despite a lack of evidence to show

00:22:51:05 - 00:22:53:07
I've inherited this superpower,

00:22:53:07 - 00:22:55:05
he holds out hope that it will emerge.

00:22:55:05 - 00:22:55:19
Test me

00:22:55:19 - 00:22:57:20
with the bare minimum of directions.

00:22:58:05 - 00:23:00:05
Go to the top of the road, turn right

00:23:00:05 - 00:23:01:23
and then follow your nose.

00:23:01:23 - 00:23:03:19
It hasn't worked out so far.

00:23:03:19 - 00:23:05:06
I'm still clueless,

00:23:05:06 - 00:23:07:12
still reliant on technology.

00:23:07:12 - 00:23:08:14
I suspect, though,

00:23:08:14 - 00:23:10:10
that his patience will be rewarded

00:23:10:10 - 00:23:12:20
one day when I'm far away from here,

00:23:13:06 - 00:23:14:05
when I find myself

00:23:14:05 - 00:23:15:20
searching for a way back,

00:23:15:20 - 00:23:17:02
I'll only need these words

00:23:17:02 - 00:23:19:01
to guide me safely towards home.

00:23:21:08 - 00:23:21:19


00:23:21:19 - 00:23:22:09
Samantha: Really lovely,

00:23:22:09 - 00:23:22:24
Thank you.

00:23:22:24 - 00:23:23:19
Thank you very much.

00:23:23:19 - 00:23:24:17
Jeanette

00:23:26:10 - 00:23:30:07
So now we move on to a poem

00:23:30:07 - 00:23:32:21
called 'Farouk' by Yvonne Green.

00:23:34:06 - 00:23:35:20
In the brilliant opening verse

00:23:35:20 - 00:23:36:19
we land straight

00:23:36:19 - 00:23:37:16
into the middle of the poem

00:23:37:16 - 00:23:38:15
and its strange

00:23:38:15 - 00:23:40:16
and mesmerizing opening question.

00:23:41:15 - 00:23:42:08
The poem runs

00:23:42:08 - 00:23:43:23
through a whole gamut of emotions

00:23:43:23 - 00:23:47:03
in a short space: joy fear, sadness,

00:23:47:11 - 00:23:49:06
surprise, compassion

00:23:49:06 - 00:23:51:10
with some daring line breaks.

00:23:51:10 - 00:23:52:22
The protagonist, Farouk, comes

00:23:52:22 - 00:23:54:01
across as real and human

00:23:54:01 - 00:23:55:02
and never in any way

00:23:55:02 - 00:23:56:24
as a sort of cardboard cut out,

00:23:56:24 - 00:23:58:04
and remains foregrounded

00:23:58:04 - 00:23:59:09
all the way through,

00:23:59:09 - 00:24:00:15
never idealized

00:24:00:15 - 00:24:02:16
and never eclipsed by the speaker.

00:24:03:07 - 00:24:04:08
Yvonne: Thank you.

00:24:04:08 - 00:24:06:23
I'd just like to say thank you just

00:24:06:23 - 00:24:10:24
to Samantha, to Zoe, for

00:24:12:13 - 00:24:14:23
introducing and for being editor

00:24:14:23 - 00:24:17:03
of this wonderful magazine. To

00:24:17:04 - 00:24:18:01
Hannah,

00:24:18:01 - 00:24:19:11
Jannat Ahmed,

00:24:19:11 - 00:24:21:18
Hannah Hodgson, Jannat Ahmen,

00:24:21:18 - 00:24:23:00
Frances Turpin,

00:24:24:02 - 00:24:25:24
and Literature Wales.

00:24:25:24 - 00:24:28:16
All of us who write are indebted to

00:24:29:15 - 00:24:31:19
all those who sponsor literature.

00:24:31:20 - 00:24:33:01
And I know

00:24:33:01 - 00:24:33:18
for my part,

00:24:33:18 - 00:24:35:19
I've got a lot of students on this Zoom,

00:24:36:07 - 00:24:37:10
and I hope they're enjoying

00:24:37:10 - 00:24:39:17
the range of poets

00:24:39:17 - 00:24:40:23
and the range of form

00:24:40:23 - 00:24:43:06
which we're being treated to tonight.

00:24:43:07 - 00:24:46:00
I feel so honored to be amongst you all.

00:24:47:18 - 00:24:50:05
This poem, I suppose

00:24:50:05 - 00:24:53:04
the catalyst is watching migrants,

00:24:54:00 - 00:24:55:06
albeit

00:24:55:06 - 00:24:57:08
that their stories stay on the screen.

00:24:58:05 - 00:25:00:20
My own family found themselves

00:25:00:20 - 00:25:01:14
in the position

00:25:01:14 - 00:25:03:16
of forced migration several times

00:25:03:16 - 00:25:05:07
in the last century.

00:25:05:07 - 00:25:07:19
And indeed to an extent in this century.

00:25:09:03 - 00:25:12:07
And so that's the context.

00:25:13:15 - 00:25:15:20
Farouk of the eponymous

00:25:15:20 - 00:25:18:17
'Farouk' is King Farouk.

00:25:18:21 - 00:25:21:11
And this set in the period of Suez,

00:25:22:14 - 00:25:25:00
the Suez crisis. 'Farouk':

00:25:26:08 - 00:25:28:17
"But I asked my mum,

00:25:28:17 - 00:25:30:23
how could he have eaten 
40 quail

00:25:30:23 - 00:25:32:23
at one sitting,

00:25:32:23 - 00:25:35:08
He being the King she'd Revered.

00:25:36:14 - 00:25:38:00
Tous comprendre...

00:25:38:00 - 00:25:39:15
she'd laugh, they were

00:25:40:00 - 00:25:42:18
tiny, 
Skewered in fire,

00:25:43:10 - 00:25:47:10
crunched in one go, her teeth 
Remembered.

00:25:48:13 - 00:25:49:21
I winced at

00:25:49:21 - 00:25:52:00
the silenced birds,

00:25:52:00 - 00:25:55:01
imagined their 
Feathers, chickened

00:25:55:13 - 00:25:56:23
like at the butcher,

00:25:56:23 - 00:25:59:15
then 
Somehow sizzled

00:25:59:22 - 00:26:03:09
Edible, swalloweable,

00:26:03:09 - 00:26:04:19
felt sick,

00:26:04:19 - 00:26:07:05
as the mist that 
Took her away from us,

00:26:07:14 - 00:26:10:10
gathered, over her eyes 
To somewhere

00:26:10:10 - 00:26:13:19
We could never go because of time

00:26:14:23 - 00:26:18:00
but it 
Had given her a wonderful youth,

00:26:18:14 - 00:26:19:05
picnics au

00:26:19:05 - 00:26:19:21
Claire

00:26:19:21 - 00:26:20:19
De la Lûne

00:26:20:19 - 00:26:23:06
with her brothers as chaperones,

00:26:23:06 - 00:26:24:19
She
blushed

00:26:24:19 - 00:26:27:20
coy but willfull well into old age,

00:26:28:17 - 00:26:31:02
Always
Popular, loved,

00:26:32:02 - 00:26:33:20
beautiful,

00:26:34:02 - 00:26:37:03
Herr appeal's range,
Like Om Kalthom's,

00:26:37:17 - 00:26:40:03
beyond politics, geography,

00:26:41:07 - 00:26:44:05
She told their exodus story as a comedy,

00:26:44:18 - 00:26:47:06
so You 
laughed and cried at the bit

00:26:47:15 - 00:26:50:00
when Roger 

Hid everything they had

00:26:50:12 - 00:26:51:10
from the business

00:26:51:10 - 00:26:54:17
at Port Säid, in an airport toilet system,

00:26:55:10 - 00:26:58:04
preferring 

A cleaner

00:26:58:04 - 00:27:00:02
or fellacheen should find it,

00:27:01:05 - 00:27:02:07
then was

00:27:02:07 - 00:27:04:08
The only one not searched,

00:27:05:08 - 00:27:07:08
couldn't speak 

For 3 months,

00:27:08:07 - 00:27:10:17
was catatonic all through 
Stateless

00:27:10:17 - 00:27:13:19
transition and beyond,

00:27:13:19 - 00:27:15:05
oh oh

00:27:15:05 - 00:27:15:20
the 
Rides my

00:27:15:20 - 00:27:17:09
Maternal grandparents

00:27:17:09 - 00:27:19:12
took in fiâcres

00:27:19:17 - 00:27:21:23
along 
Alexandria's croisette,

00:27:22:14 - 00:27:25:14
my mother's shock at 
NW4's

00:27:25:14 - 00:27:27:15
Manor Hall Avenue...

00:27:30:06 - 00:27:31:18
sakhtent bent,

00:27:31:18 - 00:27:33:12
she and 
Her friends would laugh

00:27:33:12 - 00:27:35:03
when the conversation 
Lulled

00:27:35:03 - 00:27:36:12
Mid-sentence at

00:27:36:12 - 00:27:40:04
tea Parties after someone
Gave away,

00:27:41:15 - 00:27:45:05
as quiet as the house on the day

00:27:45:15 - 00:27:49:02
a 
Girl is born"

00:27:52:19 - 00:27:53:06
Samantha: Thank you

00:27:53:06 - 00:27:55:04
very much, Yvonne.

00:27:56:21 - 00:27:59:12
So our next shortlisted poet

00:27:59:12 - 00:28:01:16
is Professor John Hunt,

00:28:01:17 - 00:28:03:20
and he's going to read

00:28:03:20 - 00:28:06:18
his poem called 'Ness'

00:28:06:18 - 00:28:09:09
I was fascinated by this poem

00:28:09:09 - 00:28:10:19
by repeating the word 'Ness'

00:28:10:19 - 00:28:11:07
at the beginning

00:28:11:07 - 00:28:13:10
of the first two lines of the poem,

00:28:13:10 - 00:28:13:20
the writer

00:28:13:20 - 00:28:16:20
is almost holding it up as an object,

00:28:17:16 - 00:28:19:04
I think, he says 'Ness,

00:28:19:04 - 00:28:20:12
we add, tipping the word's

00:28:20:12 - 00:28:22:17
end with calm and the small'

00:28:23:05 - 00:28:24:10
so holding it up as an object

00:28:24:10 - 00:28:25:04
up to the light.

00:28:25:04 - 00:28:27:08
And it's from this vantage point

00:28:27:08 - 00:28:28:02
that we set

00:28:28:02 - 00:28:30:06
and examine the various kinds of 'ness'

00:28:30:17 - 00:28:33:15
As the speaker meditates on the way 'ness' is

00:28:33:16 - 00:28:35:07
a word, a place

00:28:36:06 - 00:28:38:19
that meditates on its etymology, its history,

00:28:39:03 - 00:28:42:18
and how the way it's added to a word

00:28:43:04 - 00:28:43:19
echoes

00:28:43:19 - 00:28:45:05
the way that it's added to

00:28:45:05 - 00:28:47:11
a piece of land.

00:28:47:17 - 00:28:49:23
For example, Dungeness,

00:28:50:06 - 00:28:51:13
although that's not in the poem

00:28:51:13 - 00:28:52:05
that just came to mind

00:28:52:05 - 00:28:54:05
It's an itellectual poem,

00:28:54:05 - 00:28:55:05
but it's always

00:28:55:05 - 00:28:58:09
intangible and fascinating.

00:28:59:13 - 00:29:02:14
So, John, if you'd like to

00:29:03:20 - 00:29:06:06
read your poem.

00:29:06:14 - 00:29:08:08
John: Thank you very much indeed.

00:29:08:08 - 00:29:09:21
This is a poem inspired

00:29:09:21 - 00:29:11:09
by a dear friend of mine

00:29:11:09 - 00:29:12:21
in the town I now live in

00:29:12:21 - 00:29:14:23
was help me find my way.

00:29:14:23 - 00:29:16:02
I sort of lost my way

00:29:16:02 - 00:29:18:11
when I was 42 and had a stroke

00:29:18:11 - 00:29:20:06
and that disabled me.

00:29:20:06 - 00:29:21:02
Before that,

00:29:21:02 - 00:29:24:22
I was a geologist exploring 

00:29:25:19 - 00:29:26:21
Atlantic Island,

00:29:26:21 - 00:29:28:16
doing geology, the Faroes in Iceland

00:29:28:16 - 00:29:30:08
and North Scotland.

00:29:30:08 - 00:29:31:24
And I was reflecting on

00:29:31:24 - 00:29:33:24
the sound of the word 'ness'

00:29:33:24 - 00:29:36:20
and how the Vikings used it as a waymark

00:29:37:02 - 00:29:38:14
to finding your way.

00:29:38:14 - 00:29:39:20
And my dear friends helped me

00:29:39:20 - 00:29:40:11
find my way.

00:29:40:11 - 00:29:41:06
And I'm reflecting

00:29:41:06 - 00:29:45:07
back on how I used to study the Atlantic

00:29:45:16 - 00:29:46:15
coastline and

00:29:48:16 - 00:29:49:21
I hope that some of that

00:29:49:21 - 00:29:53:05
finding my way comes through here.

00:29:53:15 - 00:29:56:12
So, 'Ness':

00:29:56:12 - 00:29:58:22
"Ness", we add, tipping the word's end

00:29:59:04 - 00:30:02:01
with calm and the small.

00:30:02:01 - 00:30:03:16
"Ness" brings a gleam

00:30:03:16 - 00:30:05:23
and an affinity of a construct,

00:30:05:23 - 00:30:08:02
a place, 
and a thought,

00:30:08:12 - 00:30:12:06
an action or inactivity. 
Idleness,

00:30:12:24 - 00:30:16:16
No, not idleness, 
Softness.

00:30:17:10 - 00:30:19:22
Stillness, 
Notness

00:30:20:24 - 00:30:23:19
Ness in Northern lands is commonplace.

00:30:24:16 - 00:30:27:20
Ness is a wet tranquility in old Gaelic

00:30:27:20 - 00:30:29:18
and Norse sourced as a

00:30:29:18 - 00:30:32:03
waymark on the wa-
ter's edge,

00:30:32:03 - 00:30:34:04
a point of end and destination,

00:30:34:12 - 00:30:37:01
Or signpost to more:

00:30:37:01 - 00:30:39:01
The world's end when we are land-begun

00:30:39:01 - 00:30:41:15
And as well see is, a journey's end

00:30:42:08 - 00:30:44:09
Or a sea voyages' sequel, now,

00:30:44:22 - 00:30:47:10
its newness begins and booted

00:30:47:10 - 00:30:51:09
footfalls shore time 
finds, unsure, unknown,

00:30:51:19 - 00:30:55:06
newfound lands firm and feet fall forest

00:30:55:16 - 00:30:56:22
for New beginning

00:30:56:22 - 00:31:00:17
where we, being so long sea-borne, are now,

00:31:00:21 - 00:31:04:19
and anew, land 
secure espied.

00:31:05:18 - 00:31:07:02
Ness

00:31:07:02 - 00:31:09:16
to nestle here ashore safe.

00:31:10:15 - 00:31:12:22
Un-compassed we need this Ness

00:31:13:15 - 00:31:16:23
with no charts but memory 
Ness:

00:31:17:16 - 00:31:20:02
the way to find the way,

00:31:20:02 - 00:31:22:07
to place the place we aim to find

00:31:22:23 - 00:31:25:09
A shoreline searched and sought

00:31:25:09 - 00:31:27:11
whereby pointed ways by winds

00:31:27:11 - 00:31:31:09
and waves-by, 
unwind the path, wound,

00:31:31:18 - 00:31:33:23
coiled, curled and furled

00:31:33:23 - 00:31:35:24
like unwrap of time

00:31:35:24 - 00:31:38:14
as the 
wind-wings tight twines o'halyards,

00:31:39:00 - 00:31:41:15
sheets' stretch and speeds us on our way.

00:31:42:14 - 00:31:46:07
Shored stone softened dewiness of moss

00:31:46:19 - 00:31:49:15
under my toes and the moist slimy

00:31:49:15 - 00:31:53:10
bark of 
the hands - steady silv'ring birch

00:31:53:21 - 00:31:56:12
in a dampening hill misted forest.

00:31:57:11 - 00:31:59:16
Ness
Ness

00:32:00:02 - 00:32:02:17
Pointing a pathway
But soft,

00:32:03:05 - 00:32:06:08
stay, or better again be on my way

00:32:06:18 - 00:32:08:21
not yet nested homeby

00:32:09:17 - 00:32:12:11
Ness always searching another way

00:32:13:00 - 00:32:14:01
for I have not learned

00:32:14:01 - 00:32:16:05
yet to rest in stillness.

00:32:17:03 - 00:32:19:24
Ness can calm Yet so often,

00:32:20:06 - 00:32:22:17
often softens-not for softness

00:32:22:24 - 00:32:25:01
Some stillness. gone,

00:32:25:01 - 00:32:26:18
bids us on the other way,

00:32:26:18 - 00:32:30:01
'tis life's song ever-not to rest

00:32:30:01 - 00:32:31:09
for 
stillness

00:32:31:09 - 00:32:34:00
on that softness of moss-soft stone

00:32:34:16 - 00:32:38:23
and in a flash, soft, look time's gone on."

00:32:42:14 - 00:32:44:13
Samantha: absolutely gorgeous.

00:32:44:13 - 00:32:45:07
I just

00:32:45:07 - 00:32:49:02
love the way that the repetition of 'ness'

00:32:49:02 - 00:32:50:24
sounds like a footfall, it's

00:32:50:24 - 00:32:52:01
almost like the feet

00:32:52:01 - 00:32:53:03
walking through the forest.

00:32:53:03 - 00:32:55:05
So one's on a constant

00:32:55:05 - 00:32:58:05
journey through the poem and

00:32:58:05 - 00:32:59:11
I have to say

00:32:59:11 - 00:33:00:19
sounded much better in your voice

00:33:00:19 - 00:33:03:24
than when I was reading it in my head

00:33:03:24 - 00:33:06:14
to thank you, John.

00:33:07:04 - 00:33:09:08
Our next shortlisted poet is

00:33:09:18 - 00:33:11:03
Hannah Linden,

00:33:11:03 - 00:33:14:18
and the title of her poem is 'Cave:

00:33:15:01 - 00:33:17:15
How to Say Goodbye to a Door'

00:33:18:20 - 00:33:20:09
Now, this poem is

00:33:20:09 - 00:33:21:19
an extraordinary discussion

00:33:21:19 - 00:33:24:01
over the course of four long stanzas

00:33:24:04 - 00:33:24:21
examining

00:33:24:21 - 00:33:27:02
how the very thing that we think

00:33:27:02 - 00:33:28:20
enables us to feel safe

00:33:28:20 - 00:33:30:02
that apparently protects us

00:33:30:02 - 00:33:31:04
from exterior dangers

00:33:31:04 - 00:33:32:13
may in fact be

00:33:32:13 - 00:33:35:02
something that is imprisoning us

00:33:35:02 - 00:33:36:20
and makes us

00:33:36:20 - 00:33:40:10
live alongside internal interior threats.

00:33:40:16 - 00:33:42:21
And as we move through the poem,

00:33:42:21 - 00:33:44:15
the door's role becomes

00:33:44:15 - 00:33:46:00
less clear cut than we might

00:33:46:00 - 00:33:47:04
initially have thought.

00:33:47:04 - 00:33:49:21
And the poet here skillfully uses this

00:33:50:00 - 00:33:52:17
almost without us realizing, really,

00:33:52:17 - 00:33:54:01
by the end of the door -

00:33:54:01 - 00:33:56:07
sorry, by the end - that the door has gone

00:33:56:07 - 00:33:58:08
from being an object

00:33:58:08 - 00:34:00:05
to being a person

00:34:00:05 - 00:34:01:19
with its own creaking voice.

00:34:01:19 - 00:34:03:07
So it's quite eerie in a way.

00:34:04:17 - 00:34:05:21
Hannah

00:34:07:04 - 00:34:08:16
Hannah: thank you so much for this

00:34:08:16 - 00:34:10:24
very generous description of my poem.

00:34:11:06 - 00:34:12:12
Thank you for including it.

00:34:12:12 - 00:34:13:20
And thank you to everybody

00:34:13:20 - 00:34:14:07
at Poetry

00:34:14:07 - 00:34:16:15
Wales and everybody Yvonne mentioned too,

00:34:17:09 - 00:34:19:02
and thanks for everybody who's

00:34:19:02 - 00:34:21:08
come to support me, somebody got up at six in the morning

00:34:21:08 - 00:34:22:14
in Australia to come.

00:34:22:14 - 00:34:23:24
Thank you Kat!

00:34:24:21 - 00:34:25:22
This poem came,

00:34:25:22 - 00:34:26:14
I wrote this

00:34:26:14 - 00:34:27:23
as a response

00:34:27:23 - 00:34:30:15
to a prompt as part of the 52 Project

00:34:31:00 - 00:34:33:11
and I can't remember what the prompt was.

00:34:33:11 - 00:34:35:06
Yeah, well was was so well described

00:34:35:06 - 00:34:38:04
by Samantha I'll just read the poem

00:34:39:07 - 00:34:42:18
'Cave: How to Say Goodbye to a Door'

00:34:44:09 - 00:34:45:03
"one:

00:34:46:15 - 00:34:47:24
Sometimes

00:34:47:24 - 00:34:49:19
the most frightening thing

00:34:49:19 - 00:34:52:08
in the world is your own front door:

00:34:53:09 - 00:34:55:19
open, step 
outside --

00:34:56:12 - 00:34:57:20
there are children

00:34:57:20 - 00:35:00:15
who bully your children, parents

00:35:00:17 - 00:35:02:23
who bully your parents,

00:35:02:23 - 00:35:05:09
neighbor's who judge your garden

00:35:05:09 - 00:35:08:00
or there's no garden and everyone

00:35:08:08 - 00:35:10:19
is pressing against your walls,

00:35:11:12 - 00:35:14:18
bilboards flash lights through your curtains,

00:35:15:08 - 00:35:16:02
bulldozers

00:35:16:02 - 00:35:19:19
break and rebuild ever more pavements

00:35:20:06 - 00:35:23:12
and everywhere people need things,

00:35:23:21 - 00:35:27:04
then take more and more, more and more;

00:35:28:08 - 00:35:28:18
or nobody

00:35:28:18 - 00:35:30:24
wants anything from you at all:

00:35:31:20 - 00:35:34:11
your shadow invisible

00:35:34:13 - 00:35:37:05
in the midday sun.

00:35:38:19 - 00:35:41:15
Or there's snipers taking pot-shots,

00:35:42:00 - 00:35:44:16
the body of your mother, your child,

00:35:45:03 - 00:35:48:08
your lover, the air full of the sound

00:35:48:12 - 00:35:50:24
of the latest ways to kill your hope.

00:35:51:24 - 00:35:54:21
Rain falling but never snow

00:35:55:24 - 00:35:58:10
or a view so dazzlingly beautiful

00:35:58:22 - 00:36:00:23
you can't bear to take a step

00:36:01:13 - 00:36:03:14
or you'd spoil it:

00:36:03:14 - 00:36:07:01
just boulders left on the top of a hill

00:36:07:17 - 00:36:09:23
by the remnants of an ice age

00:36:10:07 - 00:36:13:13
or the forgotten game of a mythical giant.

00:36:15:23 - 00:36:16:19
two.

00:36:18:04 - 00:36:20:08
Sometimes the most

00:36:20:08 - 00:36:22:10
frightening thing in the world

00:36:24:14 - 00:36:27:13
is your own front door:

00:36:28:01 - 00:36:30:03
six foot by three, wooden,

00:36:30:13 - 00:36:32:00
a piece of canvas,

00:36:32:00 - 00:36:34:02
a sheet of corrugated steel.

00:36:34:13 - 00:36:36:20
How to keep it tight against a hole?

00:36:37:07 - 00:36:40:19
Locks like ivy across a gap in stone.

00:36:41:24 - 00:36:43:13
Metal dug out

00:36:43:13 - 00:36:45:11
from far below

00:36:45:11 - 00:36:47:15
and forced to fit round corners.

00:36:48:08 - 00:36:51:14
This is my cave.

00:36:53:07 - 00:36:54:05
three.

00:36:55:12 - 00:36:57:24
Sometimes the most frightening thing in the world

00:36:58:13 - 00:37:00:20
 is your own front door:

00:37:01:21 - 00:37:04:01
close it and step inside --

00:37:05:05 - 00:37:07:07
unresolved arguments

00:37:07:07 - 00:37:10:16
bounce against the walls, secrets

00:37:10:19 - 00:37:13:23
hide in corners no broom can reach,

00:37:14:21 - 00:37:17:21
bruises in the memory of mirrors:

00:37:18:14 - 00:37:21:21
your most unnattractive self -

00:37:21:21 - 00:37:24:03
you, as you'd always dreaded

00:37:24:03 - 00:37:25:10
you could be.

00:37:26:09 - 00:37:28:24
Your best self: staying awake

00:37:29:15 - 00:37:31:15
late into the night

00:37:31:15 - 00:37:33:22
soothing a sick child

00:37:33:22 - 00:37:36:15
or an aging father.

00:37:36:15 - 00:37:38:06
Writing a poem

00:37:38:06 - 00:37:40:16
better than anything you've ever done

00:37:40:16 - 00:37:43:07
but too personal to share,

00:37:43:07 - 00:37:45:18
tucked into the bottom

00:37:45:18 - 00:37:48:00
of a bedroom drawer.

00:37:48:02 - 00:37:50:09
The things you sacrificed

00:37:50:09 - 00:37:52:22
that no one will ever know.

00:37:52:22 - 00:37:53:11
Love

00:37:54:03 - 00:37:57:08
folded neatly into crease

00:37:57:23 - 00:37:59:24
in the bed-covers.

00:38:01:16 - 00:38:02:10
Four:

00:38:03:21 - 00:38:05:12
Sometimes the most

00:38:05:12 - 00:38:09:01
frightening thing in the world is my own

00:38:09:01 - 00:38:09:20
front door:

00:38:09:20 - 00:38:11:13
smeared with dog shit

00:38:11:13 - 00:38:13:23
or someone else's slogans,

00:38:13:23 - 00:38:14:21
strangers

00:38:14:21 - 00:38:18:00
insisting that it is I who is strange.

00:38:18:21 - 00:38:21:17
The door stops them getting in and me

00:38:21:22 - 00:38:22:21
getting out.

00:38:23:21 - 00:38:26:00
Doors hang themselves

00:38:26:00 - 00:38:28:11
in a fictional world.

00:38:28:11 - 00:38:30:21
This door is not even my door.

00:38:31:13 - 00:38:32:18
This door I borrowed

00:38:32:18 - 00:38:35:18
and then forgot to give back.

00:38:35:18 - 00:38:37:20
This door stops you in your attempt

00:38:37:20 - 00:38:40:13
to journey inside my head.

00:38:40:13 - 00:38:43:03
As if thoughts are places.

00:38:43:03 - 00:38:45:15
My mind is not a cave.

00:38:45:15 - 00:38:47:21
This is a door hanging in space.

00:38:48:02 - 00:38:50:15
This door is a telling.

00:38:50:15 - 00:38:52:15
This door has a job to do

00:38:52:22 - 00:38:54:24
which has nothing to do with the locks you're

00:38:54:24 - 00:38:58:19
smelting. This door is the latest

00:38:58:19 - 00:39:01:19
installation of art in a free world.

00:39:02:12 - 00:39:06:02
This door is my voice creaking its way

00:39:06:10 - 00:39:08:24
between one imagined room to another

00:39:10:00 - 00:39:12:05
learning how to say goodbye

00:39:12:05 - 00:39:13:14
to a door."

00:39:19:08 - 00:39:22:17
Samantha: I mean, it just

00:39:22:20 - 00:39:25:20
it's just an amazing poem and

00:39:25:20 - 00:39:28:10
the way that the the door

00:39:29:19 - 00:39:32:22
moves, morphs, from being an actual door to

00:39:34:00 - 00:39:35:00
to being almost a

00:39:35:00 - 00:39:36:22
cloud, or a bird, it's

00:39:36:22 - 00:39:39:20
it moves from the ground into the air

00:39:40:21 - 00:39:42:15
almost without us realizing it.

00:39:42:15 - 00:39:44:10
And at some points, it's eerie

00:39:44:10 - 00:39:46:13
and at other points, it's very endearing.

00:39:46:13 - 00:39:48:12
So I was fascinated by it.

00:39:48:12 - 00:39:50:06
Thank you so much.

00:39:52:04 - 00:39:54:05
Our next shortlisted poet

00:39:54:05 - 00:39:55:08
is Isabella Mead,

00:39:55:08 - 00:39:57:09
and her poem is called 'Connection'

00:39:57:09 - 00:39:58:08
Now, I think Isabella

00:39:58:08 - 00:39:59:15
is on a train at the moment.

00:39:59:15 - 00:40:01:16
I don't know if she's able to

00:40:01:16 - 00:40:02:13
read her poem.

00:40:02:13 - 00:40:04:01
I think that

00:40:04:01 - 00:40:07:22
Zoë has kindly offered to read it for her

00:40:07:22 - 00:40:09:08
in case

00:40:09:10 - 00:40:11:07
in case she's not able to read it.

00:40:11:07 - 00:40:13:10
So, Zoë,

00:40:14:10 - 00:40:16:13
are you going to read Isabella's

00:40:16:21 - 00:40:19:01
poem 'Connection'?

00:40:19:01 - 00:40:20:03
Zoë: Yes, indeed.

00:40:20:03 - 00:40:22:06
Yes, I can read it. Definitely.

00:40:23:01 - 00:40:25:13
So I'm going to read this

00:40:25:13 - 00:40:27:12
for Isabella

00:40:28:17 - 00:40:29:13
'Connection'

00:40:31:18 - 00:40:32:09
"The only

00:40:32:09 - 00:40:35:06
place that you will get signal in Newport

00:40:35:13 - 00:40:36:17
is in the immediate

00:40:36:17 - 00:40:39:23
vicinity of the Cromlech.

Away

00:40:39:23 - 00:40:41:01
from the mountain,

00:40:41:01 - 00:40:43:08
the market, the coastline,

00:40:43:08 - 00:40:45:13
try to comprehend whereabouts

00:40:45:18 - 00:40:47:24
the air has most substance,

00:40:47:24 - 00:40:48:09
here

00:40:48:09 - 00:40:50:01
you will have it:

00:40:50:01 - 00:40:51:13
four Standing Stones

00:40:51:13 - 00:40:53:06
set apart from the road

00:40:53:06 - 00:40:56:11
and huddled as a war shell 
or rugby scrum,

00:40:57:01 - 00:40:59:15
supporting the weighty
cumbersome fifth -

00:41:00:12 - 00:41:02:17
but, on closer inspection,

00:41:03:11 - 00:41:05:03
only two 
of the vast

00:41:05:03 - 00:41:07:10
Standing Stones 
are touching the roof.

00:41:08:01 - 00:41:10:21
The other two, although 
they veer close

00:41:11:03 - 00:41:14:21
leave a gap 
in which space exists: 
a gap

00:41:14:21 - 00:41:17:07
which has 
the strength of breath,

00:41:17:18 - 00:41:21:20
a ceasura of air, and there 
the rock rests -

00:41:22:06 - 00:41:23:22
like the synapse,

00:41:23:22 - 00:41:25:21
crossed by impulses

00:41:25:21 - 00:41:27:24
from the neurotransmitter,

00:41:27:24 - 00:41:30:11
the painted filament 
between God

00:41:30:17 - 00:41:32:17
and Adam's finger,

00:41:32:17 - 00:41:34:01
or the replenishing

00:41:34:01 - 00:41:36:06
pause
of the lecturer,

00:41:36:06 - 00:41:38:08
the air is eloquent

00:41:38:08 - 00:41:40:07
as the phonecall you make

00:41:40:07 - 00:41:43:19
as you lean back 
on the silent hauls"

00:41:46:01 - 00:41:46:14
Samantha: Lovely.

00:41:46:14 - 00:41:48:12
Thank you very much, Zoë.

00:41:48:12 - 00:41:52:04
And isn't it a strange irony

00:41:52:05 - 00:41:55:24
that Isabella is not able to connect

00:41:55:24 - 00:41:56:21
in that way at the moment?

00:41:56:21 - 00:41:59:00
So a poem called Connection

00:41:59:00 - 00:42:01:16
about connecting, but

00:42:02:17 - 00:42:04:01
more seriously,

00:42:04:01 - 00:42:04:23
It's also gives a sort of

00:42:04:23 - 00:42:05:24
sliver of a poem.

00:42:05:24 - 00:42:06:12
Actually, that's what

00:42:06:12 - 00:42:07:13
struck me about this poem,

00:42:07:13 - 00:42:09:08
how it's talking about something

00:42:09:08 - 00:42:10:14
very strong,

00:42:10:14 - 00:42:11:12
about the way

00:42:11:12 - 00:42:12:19
the rocks in the Cromlech

00:42:12:19 - 00:42:14:12
and the standing stones

00:42:14:18 - 00:42:16:19
but the poem itself is

00:42:16:19 - 00:42:19:15
is very narrow,

00:42:21:02 - 00:42:23:06
and it's disarming.

00:42:23:06 - 00:42:24:14
I think in its simplicity.

00:42:24:14 - 00:42:25:21
And the title, of course, refers

00:42:25:21 - 00:42:28:03
to three different kinds of connections

00:42:28:03 - 00:42:28:17
so

00:42:28:17 - 00:42:29:02
firstly,

00:42:29:02 - 00:42:29:18
there's the connection

00:42:29:18 - 00:42:32:09
between the standing stones themselves.

00:42:33:01 - 00:42:33:21
Secondly, the connection

00:42:33:21 - 00:42:35:12
between the speaker and stones.

00:42:35:12 - 00:42:37:01
And then thirdly,

00:42:37:01 - 00:42:38:05
the connection between the speaker

00:42:38:05 - 00:42:40:03
and the character whom they're

00:42:40:03 - 00:42:42:20
trying to get in touch with from

00:42:42:20 - 00:42:43:16
the Standing Stones

00:42:45:05 - 00:42:46:08
So I thought

00:42:46:08 - 00:42:49:13
this was all very delicately handled.

00:42:50:04 - 00:42:52:02
Thank you, Isabella, and thank you to

00:42:52:02 - 00:42:54:08
Zoë for reading it

00:42:56:21 - 00:42:58:16
Our next shortlisted

00:42:58:16 - 00:43:01:01
poet is Mike Pullman,

00:43:01:22 - 00:43:04:07
and he's going to be reading

00:43:04:07 - 00:43:07:07
a poem called 'That's My Nan'

00:43:07:14 - 00:43:09:10
Over the course of 5 4-line

00:43:09:10 - 00:43:11:00
stanzas, this poem stands

00:43:11:00 - 00:43:12:15
as a celebration, really,

00:43:12:15 - 00:43:14:23
of the life of a beloved Nan,

00:43:15:18 - 00:43:17:18
It's endearing, it's down to earth,

00:43:18:02 - 00:43:20:08
its admiring and funny

00:43:20:08 - 00:43:21:10
as it brings to life

00:43:21:10 - 00:43:23:15
through a series of memories and moments

00:43:23:15 - 00:43:25:23
from the life of the protagonist.

00:43:25:23 - 00:43:27:01
Without ever really getting

00:43:27:01 - 00:43:28:14
in the way of the portrait

00:43:28:14 - 00:43:30:11
which it draws.

00:43:30:14 - 00:43:32:06
The final couplet is beautifully done.

00:43:32:06 - 00:43:33:07
It's straightforward,

00:43:33:07 - 00:43:34:07
it's heartbreaking,

00:43:34:07 - 00:43:36:16
but it's never maudlin.

00:43:36:16 - 00:43:39:03
Mike, 
Mike: Thank you very much,

00:43:39:20 - 00:43:41:19
Samantha and Poetry

00:43:41:19 - 00:43:42:21
Wales for shortlisiting

00:43:42:21 - 00:43:43:23
'That's my Nan'

00:43:43:23 - 00:43:44:22
It's such an honor

00:43:44:22 - 00:43:45:21
I haven't been writing poetry

00:43:45:21 - 00:43:46:18
that long, really,

00:43:46:18 - 00:43:48:24
so I can't tell you what it means to me.

00:43:49:01 - 00:43:49:22
Such a special

00:43:50:22 - 00:43:51:22
day and occasion

00:43:51:22 - 00:43:53:20
to be reading this.

00:43:54:10 - 00:43:55:10
My Nans, both

00:43:55:10 - 00:43:57:12
my grandmothers were amazing women,

00:43:57:12 - 00:43:58:17
and they've both died

00:43:58:17 - 00:44:01:09
many, many years ago now.

00:44:01:13 - 00:44:03:18
And yet I feel their love every day.

00:44:04:13 - 00:44:07:12
And so this is about one of them.

00:44:07:22 - 00:44:10:05
'That's my Nan':

00:44:11:24 - 00:44:14:18
"She laughed every time she sat on a 

00:44:14:19 - 00:44:15:19
farting cushion

00:44:15:19 - 00:44:16:01
that we

00:44:16:01 - 00:44:18:14
hid under a seat in our Porthcawl caravan.

00:44:19:05 - 00:44:20:19
She had a sandwich and a cup of tea

00:44:20:19 - 00:44:22:06
before bed every evening

00:44:22:06 - 00:44:24:07
and loved watching Dracula films,

00:44:24:07 - 00:44:26:01
That was my Nan.

00:44:26:06 - 00:44:28:11
She knew the names of all the 1970s

00:44:28:11 - 00:44:30:23
Welsh Rugby players, 
and boy, oh boy

00:44:31:04 - 00:44:32:03
the old widowers,

00:44:32:03 - 00:44:34:15
were they after her or what?

00:44:34:15 - 00:44:36:12
She played hoopla and draughts with me

00:44:36:12 - 00:44:38:14
when my tonsils were swollen

00:44:38:14 - 00:44:40:22
but never mentioned in service in London.

00:44:40:22 - 00:44:42:11
from a damp, tiny flat.

00:44:44:06 - 00:44:44:16
She took

00:44:44:16 - 00:44:45:06
the exploding

00:44:45:06 - 00:44:47:08
cigarets on the chin, couldn't sing

00:44:47:19 - 00:44:49:01
and was very pleased

00:44:49:01 - 00:44:49:11
when they struck

00:44:49:11 - 00:44:50:24
a plastic roof on the door

00:44:50:24 - 00:44:53:09
to the khazi outside.

00:44:53:09 - 00:44:55:06
She wasn't keen on the daughter-in-law,

00:44:55:06 - 00:44:57:13
didn't snore or lock the door

00:44:57:13 - 00:44:58:09
and we didn't know that

00:44:58:09 - 00:45:00:00
her mother had been locked up,

00:45:00:00 - 00:45:01:13
'til she died.

00:45:02:18 - 00:45:04:07
She sold hats on the market

00:45:04:07 - 00:45:05:20
and made griddled hot Welsh cakes

00:45:05:20 - 00:45:06:09
and filled

00:45:06:09 - 00:45:07:06
the tin bath

00:45:07:06 - 00:45:10:05
each night to wash his black skin.

00:45:10:05 - 00:45:11:20
She smoked like a trooper

00:45:11:20 - 00:45:13:12
and liked a nip of sherry

00:45:13:12 - 00:45:15:15
on New Year's Eve when he'd gone

00:45:15:15 - 00:45:17:21
the old miner's came again and again.

00:45:19:13 - 00:45:21:13
She lay there in the front room

00:45:21:13 - 00:45:23:13
where he lay twenty years before

00:45:23:18 - 00:45:24:20
when I had cried

00:45:24:20 - 00:45:27:12
the gray faces, distraught with red eyes.

00:45:28:08 - 00:45:29:18
There she was now

00:45:29:18 - 00:45:32:04
by the fern and the unplayable piano.

00:45:32:17 - 00:45:35:02
That's my Nan dressed all somber;

00:45:35:02 - 00:45:36:10
I just had to smile."

00:45:38:19 - 00:45:40:04
Samantha: Gorgeous,

00:45:43:08 - 00:45:44:01
Thank you.

00:45:44:01 - 00:45:46:22
Thank you very much, Mike.

00:45:48:14 - 00:45:51:21
So we have three

00:45:51:21 - 00:45:53:09
more shortlisted poets

00:45:53:09 - 00:45:55:07
who are going to read

00:45:55:13 - 00:45:56:19
Amanda Rackstraw

00:45:56:19 - 00:45:59:09
is going to read her poem 'The Odds'

00:46:00:08 - 00:46:01:23
Now, when I saw the title of this poem,

00:46:01:23 - 00:46:03:23
I wouldn't have guessed at the subject,

00:46:05:05 - 00:46:08:08
which is about birds.

00:46:08:21 - 00:46:10:16
And there were quite a few poems

00:46:10:16 - 00:46:11:11
about birds, actually.

00:46:11:11 - 00:46:13:03
But this was the one that really stayed

00:46:13:03 - 00:46:14:07
with me.

00:46:15:07 - 00:46:17:06
It's all about surviving the early days

00:46:17:06 - 00:46:19:20
of being a bird, which course we're

00:46:20:09 - 00:46:22:11
about to see

00:46:22:21 - 00:46:25:03
over the coming weeks;

00:46:25:03 - 00:46:26:03
five stanzas

00:46:26:03 - 00:46:27:18
explore the different stages.

00:46:27:18 - 00:46:31:04
So each one is a beautifully

00:46:31:04 - 00:46:33:11
crafted, full of striking imagery,

00:46:33:11 - 00:46:36:03
which astutely describes what is at stake

00:46:36:24 - 00:46:38:06
I'm just going to give one example.

00:46:38:06 - 00:46:40:08
'A little bulb of a skull.'

00:46:40:08 - 00:46:42:16
I mean, I just thought that was gorgeous.

00:46:42:16 - 00:46:44:06
And it's phrases like this,

00:46:44:06 - 00:46:46:18
which tug at the reader's heart.

00:46:46:18 - 00:46:48:04
The poem is compassionate, yet

00:46:48:04 - 00:46:49:01
it's realistic.

00:46:50:20 - 00:46:53:24
And yeah, I'd love to hear you read it.

00:46:54:02 - 00:46:55:11
Amanda

00:46:55:22 - 00:46:57:13
Amanda: thank you so much

00:46:57:13 - 00:47:01:04
for this introduction.

00:47:01:18 - 00:47:04:16
Thank you, Samantha.

00:47:04:16 - 00:47:06:12
And thank you Zoë and Frances

00:47:07:02 - 00:47:08:22
for bringing us together.

00:47:08:22 - 00:47:10:10
Maybe I'd just like this

00:47:10:10 - 00:47:13:24
poem to speak for itself

00:47:13:24 - 00:47:17:00
and the reader or listener

00:47:17:00 - 00:47:17:20
get from it

00:47:17:20 - 00:47:19:07
what they might.

00:47:19:07 - 00:47:24:02
Because the original draft of this poem

00:47:24:13 - 00:47:28:12
was actually at the time of the pandemic,

00:47:29:12 - 00:47:32:12
and the experience of finding the birds

00:47:32:24 - 00:47:33:19
affected me.

00:47:33:19 - 00:47:36:03
But then everything that was going on

00:47:36:16 - 00:47:38:17
Being bombarded with statistics

00:47:38:18 - 00:47:41:10
and things like that sort of crept in.

00:47:41:18 - 00:47:43:20
But coming back to it,

00:47:43:20 - 00:47:46:23
I found the meaning has kind of shifted

00:47:47:07 - 00:47:49:19
and just reading it

00:47:49:19 - 00:47:53:15
this week shifts again somehow.

00:47:53:15 - 00:47:55:02
So there we are.

00:47:55:02 - 00:47:57:14
And maybe just find in it

00:47:57:14 - 00:47:59:21
whatever you want to find in it.

00:48:01:10 - 00:48:01:18


00:48:04:20 - 00:48:05:12
"There,

00:48:06:00 - 00:48:08:09
ahead of my step, the hatchling,

00:48:09:03 - 00:48:11:19
its nakedness splayed on a storm-soaked path.

00:48:12:24 - 00:48:14:24
A deflated toy

00:48:15:04 - 00:48:15:17
flattened

00:48:15:17 - 00:48:18:23
except for 
a little bulb of a skull,

00:48:19:22 - 00:48:22:10
not enough weight to break,

00:48:22:10 - 00:48:24:13
extended on its rubber-band neck.

00:48:25:17 - 00:48:28:01
The eyes shut,

00:48:28:01 - 00:48:30:05
beak still soft,

00:48:30:05 - 00:48:32:10
waxy yellow lips crumpled.

00:48:33:21 - 00:48:35:24
A child trying hard

00:48:35:24 - 00:48:37:12
not to cry.

00:48:39:11 - 00:48:40:14
Two weeks ago,

00:48:40:14 - 00:48:42:23
in almost the same place,

00:48:42:23 - 00:48:46:00
a glint of turquoise, an inch of oval,

00:48:46:03 - 00:48:50:02
caught 
my eye. Broken at the wide end;

00:48:50:02 - 00:48:52:11
at other, 
purple splotches.

00:48:53:18 - 00:48:57:15
Splashes of ink on porcelain.

00:48:57:18 - 00:49:00:14
I placed the eggshell in my palm, looked up.

00:49:00:24 - 00:49:03:11
The oak was a shimmer of spring frills

00:49:03:17 - 00:49:07:19
hiding the nest. Inside a new life

00:49:08:11 - 00:49:10:20
fresh from this jettisoned egg.

00:49:13:07 - 00:49:16:08
Today's hatchling is dead.

00:49:16:08 - 00:49:19:01
Only a few from every brood survive.

00:49:19:15 - 00:49:22:07
Predators, parasites, parental neglect;

00:49:22:18 - 00:49:24:14
any 
can claim a fledgling's

00:49:24:14 - 00:49:25:11
feathering time.

00:49:26:18 - 00:49:27:02
Death

00:49:27:02 - 00:49:29:16
stalks right to the final edging

00:49:30:03 - 00:49:32:18
to where a nudge launches novice into air,

00:49:33:20 - 00:49:36:20
strength beneath wings: the lift

00:49:38:02 - 00:49:40:02
that is flight

00:49:40:18 - 00:49:42:18
Can anything be so fine?

00:49:43:12 - 00:49:46:14
This bringing into being the bird.

00:49:47:22 - 00:49:49:08
The survivor rises

00:49:49:08 - 00:49:52:13
without learnt thought.

00:49:52:14 - 00:49:56:15
For us, what is taught? To analyze data,

00:49:56:22 - 00:50:00:17
calculate the odds, quantify a struggle.

00:50:01:24 - 00:50:03:08
Is that it, then?

00:50:03:20 - 00:50:06:05
Is everything under control?

00:50:08:00 - 00:50:10:15
Is fragility ours now,

00:50:11:19 - 00:50:13:14
part of the whole?

00:50:15:04 - 00:50:17:06
I gentle the hatchling into a hollow,

00:50:17:06 - 00:50:19:07
go back indoors

00:50:19:07 - 00:50:21:17
to fetch crumbs and seeds,

00:50:21:17 - 00:50:22:21
sprinkle with care

00:50:22:21 - 00:50:26:10
all along the stone wall.

00:50:26:15 - 00:50:27:18
Somewhere out there

00:50:28:15 - 00:50:31:24
a young bullfinch stretches 
its wings,

00:50:32:14 - 00:50:35:23
opens its throat and... whoops!"

00:50:40:15 - 00:50:42:07
Samantha: thank you, Amanda.

00:50:43:13 - 00:50:45:11
Thank you very much.

00:50:46:16 - 00:50:48:11
So we are down

00:50:48:11 - 00:50:50:13
to our last two poems,

00:50:51:24 - 00:50:52:14
'Distances'

00:50:52:14 - 00:50:56:09
is the next poem, it's by Jean Stevens

00:50:57:15 - 00:50:58:10
and it's a striking

00:50:58:10 - 00:51:00:20
poem, which was one of several

00:51:00:21 - 00:51:02:12
dealing with the impact of lockdowns

00:51:02:12 - 00:51:04:04
on on one family.

00:51:04:04 - 00:51:04:20
And it outlines

00:51:04:20 - 00:51:06:15
a very clear and honest language

00:51:06:15 - 00:51:08:18
over the course of five verses

00:51:08:18 - 00:51:10:18
how the hopes of one family were dashed.

00:51:11:06 - 00:51:13:11
And yet it's so much more than that.

00:51:13:23 - 00:51:15:01
Here's a poem

00:51:15:01 - 00:51:16:14
which in my humble opinion,

00:51:16:14 - 00:51:18:02
is a little masterclass

00:51:18:02 - 00:51:19:23
in how to push a poem further

00:51:19:23 - 00:51:21:23
than its initial catalyst.

00:51:21:23 - 00:51:23:05
It's a meditation

00:51:23:05 - 00:51:24:23
on geographical distance,

00:51:24:23 - 00:51:26:09
on emotional distance,

00:51:26:09 - 00:51:29:08
on time and on the body.

00:51:29:08 - 00:51:30:07
Jean

00:51:32:02 - 00:51:35:03
Jean: Thank you very much, Samantha.

00:51:35:08 - 00:51:37:16
And thank you for everybody

00:51:37:16 - 00:51:38:20
for your reading.

00:51:38:20 - 00:51:42:02
It's been great to meet you all

00:51:42:05 - 00:51:44:20
when the provenance

00:51:44:20 - 00:51:47:12
of this poem thinks through itself.

00:51:48:03 - 00:51:53:09
And we had been planning various visits,

00:51:53:19 - 00:51:57:00
and then I had a very serious illness

00:51:57:11 - 00:51:59:12
and she tried to come here,

00:51:59:19 - 00:52:02:09
but the authorities wouldn't let her.

00:52:02:21 - 00:52:04:09
And I began to think

00:52:04:09 - 00:52:06:12
I would never see her again,

00:52:06:12 - 00:52:09:07
having not seen her for three years.

00:52:11:07 - 00:52:13:13
'Distances':

00:52:13:24 - 00:52:16:10
"When we parted at Sydney Airport,

00:52:16:17 - 00:52:18:11
I couldn't stop myself

00:52:18:11 - 00:52:20:08
turning 
for one last

00:52:20:08 - 00:52:22:09
look as you walked away.

00:52:23:10 - 00:52:25:13
Your shoulders were hunched

00:52:25:13 - 00:52:27:22
and I saw them shake.

00:52:27:22 - 00:52:30:05
You became smaller and smaller

00:52:30:17 - 00:52:33:24
vanished through the sliding exit door.

00:52:35:08 - 00:52:36:10
All the times I

00:52:36:10 - 00:52:37:23
visited you,

00:52:37:23 - 00:52:38:19
my stay

00:52:38:19 - 00:52:41:06
had a little shadow in each day's

00:52:41:09 - 00:52:44:20
sun 
knowing this moment would come.

00:52:46:01 - 00:52:47:01
This year,

00:52:47:01 - 00:52:50:06
plane booked, itinerary sorted,

00:52:51:03 - 00:52:53:06
you were going to fly back to me here

00:52:54:00 - 00:52:56:04
become clearer and clearer

00:52:56:21 - 00:52:59:01
until I could actually touch you.

00:53:00:11 - 00:53:01:19
But now there are rules

00:53:01:19 - 00:53:03:08
we can't break

00:53:03:08 - 00:53:05:20
borders we're not allowed to cross.

00:53:06:14 - 00:53:08:24
I don't know how much time I've left

00:53:09:13 - 00:53:12:11
and whenever I think of the turning earth,

00:53:12:11 - 00:53:14:17
I think of your sun and my moon,

00:53:15:07 - 00:53:17:18
my sun and your moon,

00:53:17:18 - 00:53:20:21
out in the end is distance of space.

00:53:21:22 - 00:53:24:11
When I carried you inside my body,

00:53:25:00 - 00:53:28:03
when I held your hand, wiped your tears,

00:53:28:23 - 00:53:30:16
I thought of your growing up.

00:53:30:16 - 00:53:33:11
The thought of your leaving home.

00:53:33:11 - 00:53:35:21
I never stopped to calculate

00:53:36:05 - 00:53:38:12
how far 
you might move away

00:53:38:12 - 00:53:39:21
from me.

00:53:40:09 - 00:53:42:03
I didn't know then

00:53:42:03 - 00:53:44:18
the tyranny of distance."

00:53:47:01 - 00:53:49:07
Samantha: Just mesmerizing.

00:53:49:07 - 00:53:49:20
Thank you.

00:53:49:20 - 00:53:52:07
Thank you so much, Jean.

00:53:53:24 - 00:53:54:13
So now

00:53:54:13 - 00:53:57:12
we are on our last reader.

00:53:57:17 - 00:53:59:10
The last poem.

00:53:59:18 - 00:54:01:10
And it's called 'Cardiff Summer,

00:54:01:10 - 00:54:05:03
1976' and it's by David Walrond.

00:54:05:04 - 00:54:05:15
And

00:54:07:09 - 00:54:10:01
this final poem is deceptively simple,

00:54:10:01 - 00:54:11:07
recounting that long, hot

00:54:11:07 - 00:54:12:22
summer of '76

00:54:12:22 - 00:54:15:05
which many of us remember well.

00:54:15:05 - 00:54:17:14
It's a perfect Shakespearean sonnet

00:54:17:14 - 00:54:19:08
with all the end rhymes you'd expect.

00:54:19:08 - 00:54:22:01
And then a turn in its eighth line

00:54:22:13 - 00:54:25:09
in which the speaker shifts gear

00:54:25:09 - 00:54:27:11
from the last year of school

00:54:28:05 - 00:54:30:20
to the, to moving on,

00:54:31:01 - 00:54:32:16
whether that's university or

00:54:32:16 - 00:54:34:00
to work over the border.

00:54:35:16 - 00:54:35:22
But the

00:54:35:22 - 00:54:37:23
poem, again, as with many of these poems

00:54:38:03 - 00:54:39:24
poem is more than that as well.

00:54:39:24 - 00:54:41:16
So we have the arrival of the rain

00:54:41:16 - 00:54:42:06
at the end of the poem.

00:54:42:06 - 00:54:44:22
But which washes away the the sun.

00:54:44:22 - 00:54:46:07
But it also

00:54:46:07 - 00:54:48:15
and the heat, but it takes with it

00:54:48:15 - 00:54:50:21
the whole summer and it draws a line

00:54:51:07 - 00:54:54:05
under the teenage years of the speaker.

00:54:55:19 - 00:54:56:18
David,

00:54:57:11 - 00:54:58:08
David: thank you Samantha

00:54:58:08 - 00:54:59:21
Thanks very much, everyone.

00:54:59:21 - 00:55:01:11
I thoroughly enjoyed

00:55:01:11 - 00:55:02:13
this evening's poems.

00:55:02:13 - 00:55:04:13
I think they've been wonderful.

00:55:04:17 - 00:55:05:10
I think Samantha's

00:55:05:10 - 00:55:07:02
introduced it, really.

00:55:07:02 - 00:55:09:05
But if I could,

00:55:09:07 - 00:55:09:17
the only thing

00:55:09:17 - 00:55:11:00
I'd say is when that summer ended,

00:55:11:00 - 00:55:12:09
it ended spectacularly

00:55:12:09 - 00:55:13:03
with a plunge

00:55:13:03 - 00:55:14:09
in temperatures

00:55:14:09 - 00:55:16:11
from the high twenties, low thirties.

00:55:17:11 - 00:55:19:07
And then weeks and weeks of rain.

00:55:19:07 - 00:55:20:15
So it was a kind of cliff edge.

00:55:20:15 - 00:55:22:09
And then, of course,

00:55:22:09 - 00:55:23:18
lots of other things ended

00:55:23:18 - 00:55:24:15
at the same time.

00:55:25:19 - 00:55:28:02
'Cardiff, Summer 1976':

00:55:29:20 - 00:55:31:17
"They gaved at heaven, lazing

00:55:31:17 - 00:55:34:10
on parched lawns,
Through scented evenings,

00:55:34:23 - 00:55:35:23
drifting song and

00:55:35:23 - 00:55:38:12
smoke 
Across the orange-rose suns

00:55:38:12 - 00:55:39:24
floating down

00:55:39:24 - 00:55:41:24
Till honeysuckle and first stars

00:55:41:24 - 00:55:42:23
awoke.

00:55:43:14 - 00:55:46:17
Gauche, bare-backed, freckled, sun-drunk

00:55:46:17 - 00:55:47:21
as the Med,

00:55:47:21 - 00:55:49:05
The half-maned lion boys

00:55:49:05 - 00:55:51:00
bought legal beer,

00:55:51:00 - 00:55:53:01
Took girls at last

00:55:53:01 - 00:55:53:24
not just to heart

00:55:53:24 - 00:55:55:01
but bed

00:55:55:01 - 00:55:57:18
To write the last page of that last school year.

00:55:59:01 - 00:56:00:06
And from its ridge of hills

00:56:00:06 - 00:56:02:22
the city's lights 
Rippled in heat-haze shimmer,

00:56:03:10 - 00:56:05:09
and the bay's 
Moon-silvered plain

00:56:05:09 - 00:56:07:16
stretched out to England's heights,

00:56:07:16 - 00:56:09:14
Like their glimpsed futures,

00:56:09:14 - 00:56:12:08
close and far away.

00:56:12:08 - 00:56:14:24
How soon they woke not to expected sun

00:56:15:20 - 00:56:18:02
But the forgotten rain, and summer gone."

00:56:21:14 - 00:56:22:04
Samantha: lovely.

00:56:22:04 - 00:56:22:23
Thank you.

00:56:22:23 - 00:56:24:22
Thank you very much.

00:56:25:14 - 00:56:27:18
Well, thank you to all the all

00:56:27:18 - 00:56:29:01
the poets, all the readers

00:56:30:07 - 00:56:31:02
this evening.

00:56:31:02 - 00:56:32:08
And

00:56:32:22 - 00:56:33:17
we now

00:56:33:17 - 00:56:36:22
come to the moment where we announce the

00:56:37:10 - 00:56:39:20
the top three winners.

00:56:40:18 - 00:56:41:16
So I'll just say

00:56:41:16 - 00:56:43:02
in advance of making that announcement,

00:56:43:02 - 00:56:45:08
that what particularly compels me

00:56:45:24 - 00:56:46:15
in each of the top

00:56:46:15 - 00:56:48:04
three poems was

00:56:48:04 - 00:56:50:13
their, was a combination of musicality

00:56:50:24 - 00:56:53:09
and an assurance of voice.

00:56:54:15 - 00:56:56:09
And each of these poems are

00:56:56:09 - 00:57:00:20
striking examples of poetry's urgency

00:57:00:20 - 00:57:02:01
and power

00:57:02:01 - 00:57:03:02
to speak to us, either

00:57:03:02 - 00:57:05:17
in a contemporary voice

00:57:05:17 - 00:57:06:11
or in a voice

00:57:06:11 - 00:57:08:15
channeled from many years ago.

00:57:10:19 - 00:57:11:19
So

00:57:12:07 - 00:57:15:02
in third place,

00:57:15:02 - 00:57:17:06
we have Faith MW

00:57:17:19 - 00:57:20:09
Buckley with 'Us'

00:57:21:03 - 00:57:23:04
in second place,

00:57:23:04 - 00:57:25:14
we have Tess Biddington

00:57:25:14 - 00:57:28:10
with 'A father hanged for poaching'

00:57:29:12 - 00:57:31:19
in first place.

00:57:31:19 - 00:57:34:23
We have David Walrond with 'Cardiff,

00:57:34:23 - 00:57:37:05
Summer 1976'

00:57:40:01 - 00:57:41:00
so all these writers

00:57:41:00 - 00:57:42:08
deserve our warmest

00:57:42:08 - 00:57:44:13
thanks and our congratulations

00:57:44:13 - 00:57:46:12
and thank you very much for

00:57:46:12 - 00:57:48:18
coming along to support all the writers

00:57:49:16 - 00:57:52:04
this evening. I think

00:57:53:06 - 00:57:54:18
I will pass you back now

00:57:54:18 - 00:57:58:05
to - I don't know whether it's - I think Zoë?

00:57:59:05 - 00:58:01:09
Zoë: yes thank you so much

00:58:01:09 - 00:58:04:04
and a huge congratulations

00:58:04:04 - 00:58:04:24
to the winners.

00:58:04:24 - 00:58:06:11
I'm absolutely delighted

00:58:06:11 - 00:58:07:00
and delighted

00:58:07:00 - 00:58:11:15
for all of you and congrats to the poets

00:58:11:15 - 00:58:12:08
who got

00:58:12:08 - 00:58:13:19
one, two and three

00:58:13:19 - 00:58:16:02
in the the placings, well done

00:58:16:08 - 00:58:17:24
it was absolutely wonderful

00:58:17:24 - 00:58:19:19
listening to these poems.

00:58:19:19 - 00:58:21:05
They're all so different,

00:58:21:05 - 00:58:23:04
all so fascinating,

00:58:23:04 - 00:58:25:06
you know, also intriguing.

00:58:25:06 - 00:58:26:24
Really, really enjoyed it.

00:58:26:24 - 00:58:28:05
And I'm delighted

00:58:28:05 - 00:58:30:23
to have this space to celebrate you

00:58:30:23 - 00:58:31:19
and your writing

00:58:31:19 - 00:58:34:01
tonight is wonderful. It's wonderful.

00:58:34:01 - 00:58:34:13
And also,

00:58:34:13 - 00:58:35:07
I wanted to say

00:58:35:07 - 00:58:37:22
thank you so much to Samantha

00:58:38:03 - 00:58:38:21
you know, what

00:58:38:21 - 00:58:40:03
really

00:58:40:07 - 00:58:42:23
thoughtful, sensitive engagement

00:58:42:23 - 00:58:43:22
with these poems

00:58:43:22 - 00:58:44:13
you provided,

00:58:44:13 - 00:58:47:24
what beautiful commentary really

00:58:47:24 - 00:58:50:06
I very much appreciated all the effort and work

00:58:50:15 - 00:58:53:14
you put into reading all the poems.

00:58:53:14 - 00:58:54:23
It's a huge job

00:58:54:23 - 00:58:57:02
judging a competition and

00:58:57:02 - 00:58:59:02
sifting through it's very tough and hard

00:58:59:02 - 00:59:01:24
because you have to, you know, select the

00:59:02:06 - 00:59:03:24
the best poems you can.

00:59:03:24 - 00:59:04:14
And, you know,

00:59:04:14 - 00:59:06:03
there are some very good poems

00:59:06:03 - 00:59:06:14
which don't

00:59:06:14 - 00:59:08:21
necessarily get onto the shortlist.

00:59:08:21 - 00:59:11:04
And those are very good poems, too.

00:59:11:05 - 00:59:12:11
So if you submitted

00:59:12:11 - 00:59:13:02
and you didn't

00:59:13:02 - 00:59:15:06
shortlist this time, you know,

00:59:15:06 - 00:59:16:04
don't give up.

00:59:16:04 - 00:59:18:14
So don't be discouraged.

00:59:18:14 - 00:59:21:20
And I'm absolutely delighted

00:59:21:20 - 00:59:24:00
that Samantha's able to do this.

00:59:24:00 - 00:59:26:05
Please remember, like I said, the

00:59:26:05 - 00:59:27:18
Poetry Wales has

00:59:28:22 - 00:59:29:13
a call

00:59:29:13 - 00:59:30:03
opening at

00:59:30:03 - 00:59:30:22
the end of the month (March 2022)

00:59:30:22 - 00:59:33:12
and a new issue out this month.

00:59:33:22 - 00:59:36:20
I also want to mention with my hat on

00:59:36:20 - 00:59:37:21
as Seren

00:59:37:21 - 00:59:41:06
Poetry Editor that our next first Thursday

00:59:41:17 - 00:59:43:01
event

00:59:43:01 - 00:59:44:09
will be in April (2022)

00:59:44:09 - 00:59:46:11
and actually it's going to be online

00:59:46:20 - 00:59:48:11
as we're just trying to transition

00:59:48:11 - 00:59:49:17
at the moment to do something

00:59:49:17 - 00:59:50:18
which is hybrid.

00:59:50:18 - 00:59:52:13
So that we'll be in-person,

00:59:52:13 - 00:59:53:22
but with an online element.

00:59:53:22 - 00:59:54:22
We want to keep that up

00:59:54:22 - 00:59:56:03
because it's something

00:59:56:03 - 00:59:57:14
that's been really positive

00:59:57:14 - 00:59:58:17
through the pandemic.

00:59:58:17 - 01:00:00:08
I think one of the few things

01:00:00:08 - 01:00:01:24
that's been positive, right,

01:00:01:24 - 01:00:03:02
has been the fact

01:00:03:02 - 01:00:05:07
of being able to attend events like this,

01:00:05:07 - 01:00:06:13
which are online

01:00:06:13 - 01:00:06:23
and  so like.

01:00:06:23 - 01:00:09:10
kind of grow our community

01:00:09:10 - 01:00:11:11
so people from all over the UK

01:00:11:11 - 01:00:12:02
can attend.

01:00:12:02 - 01:00:13:03
So please

01:00:13:03 - 01:00:14:17
think of attending that as well.

01:00:14:17 - 01:00:15:16
They're always really fun

01:00:15:16 - 01:00:17:23
and we have a very good open mic

01:00:17:23 - 01:00:19:16
The quality of that is always very,

01:00:19:16 - 01:00:22:05
very good. So think of attending.

01:00:22:05 - 01:00:23:03
I think that's everything I

01:00:23:03 - 01:00:23:18
wanted to say.