Sarah Rowland Jones
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Poems from Cardiff
Poems from Cardiff is part of Seren’s pamphlet series celebrating the spirit of place. It opens with a view from the Bay where “The Severn wrestles the sea”. We also find ourselves in ‘Arcades’, mingling with the colourful crowds outside ‘St. David’s Hall’, and admiring the “fit” builders of the Millennium Stadium sunning themselves on Westgate Street. “The Muck and the Music” of Grangetown is here along with lyrical evocations of the Taff and Rhymni rivers. We follow a fox through the National Museum of Wales and we proclaim with the poet: ‘I Loved Her A Lot, In Splott’. Enjoy this poetry pamphlet yourself or send to a loved one – comes with an envelope & postcard. Gillian Clarke, Oliver Reynolds, Gwyneth Lewis, Damian Walford Davies, Mab Jones, Jonathan Edwards, Sarah Rowland Jones, Gillian Clarke, Ifor Thomas, Grahame Davies, Dai George, Peter Finch, Tiffany Atkinson, Susie Wild, Stephen Payne, Kate North, clare e potter, Robert Minhinnick, Philip Gross, Patrick Lodge, Sheenagh Pugh, Paul Henry, Peter Finch, Mike Jenkins, Hanan Issa, Abeer Ameer, Robert Walton
Twelve Poems for Christmas
This sparkling selection of Christmas poems includes all those shortlisted for Seren’s inaugural Christmas Poetry Competition. Poetry Editor Amy Wack was looking for poems full of feeling that resist cliché, that touch on classic ‘Christmas’ themes, but bring them to life from fresh perspectives. The pamphlet opens with the winning poem, ‘St. Leonore and the Robin’ by Pippa Little. Featuring a fable from the life of a sixth-century Welsh Missionary, this piece is brief, lyrical and tender. Sarah Rowland Jones’ ‘Gabriel’s Greeting’ is full of robust humour and the distinctly contrasting tenderness of the angel’s refrain ‘Do Not Be Afraid’. Helen Overell’s little statue of a ‘Camel’ sits on an urban rooftop yet evokes the nativity. We loved how Sarah Westcott’s mysterious-sounding ‘Guardians’ turn out to be prosaic heroes: ‘We see them every day/ brushing coal dust from their arms/ or plaiting a child’s hair,/reaching into high corners with feathers.’ To close, Wendy Klein offers a witty lyric, ‘The Usual Suspects’, artfully musing on the joy to be had at the simple repetition of rituals, of well-loved hymns and films on television: ‘The relief of knowing how it will end/the same every time.’
These Pages Sing: Spring 2025
Published in 2025 Spring 2025 Issue of These Pages Sing Literary Magazine: a curated collection of poetry and short fiction from writers with a Welsh connection.