Holy Glimmers of Goodbyes - the poetry of war and peace

Looking out, not looking in ..

What a fantastic day at the Senedd in Cardiff yesterday; Literature Wales hosted a free, day long event to mark the close of Cymru'n Cofio 1914 - 1918 (Wales Remembers 1914 - 1918). But it wasn't just a day about the poetry of the past - it was about war and peace throughout the world, then and now; and it wasn't theoretical and academic, it was down to earth and sharply relevant to the world we live in and for which we have responsibility. Schoolchildren and refugees took part, reading alongside members of the Welsh Assembly. I wouldn't have missed it - and when my learner Welsh failed me, the simultaneous translation ensured I didn't miss anything!

Mark Drakeford, First Minister,
reading Wilfred Owen

Ifor ap Glyn, National Poet
of Wales

Ali Sizer, exiled Kurdish writer
and singer

                                       

Nerys Williams, poet and
professor

Gillian Clarke, previous national Poet
of Wales

J. F. Kennedy is credited with the insightful remark "If more politicians knew poetry and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place in which to live" and I couldn't agree more. With the audience at the Senedd yesterday though, I did feel that in many ways the speakers were preaching to the converted; now it's up to us to get out there and to do something about it - deeds as well as words, to adapt the Emmeline Pankhurst motto.