Normality restored

Well, it's back to earth with a vengeance after a magic time at Ty Newydd. I didn't actually get a lot of writing done whilst there, but the week gave me the space and the opportunity to rethink various projects I'm working on, to prioritise and to do some planning. Now comes the reality - the hard work of putting all that into practice!

Despite being snowed under with work lately, my good friend and Picaresque colleague Kathy Alderman found time to make a couple of very successful appearances at the recent Cheltenham Poetry Festival and she's now very kindly agreed to guest on my blog this week. I'm a great admirer of all Kathy's writing but, perhaps because we share some of our heritage, her poem below has to be my real favourite. Thank you so much, Kathy, for letting me use it here.


Old As Hills

I remember you - just. Old as hills, still
as Snowdon with rain in your pocket,
quiet as mist, clothes a grey mountain scree,
mind crow-flown back to the land of our fathers.
Your family loved you in the time before I knew,
their best of Dadis, in those green valley days
before night came. Full of Celtic brooding he was,
a marriage aunt said and Mam was cross
but the mist was enveloping her. When you'd gone
the crows stole her voice away and left
an imposter behind. They came back for me;
once. Then I longed for you Tadcu,
to tell my tormentors, my mizzle was true
as the crows that surrounded them too. 


My writing evolved from my career as an actress and a love of language. I wrote this experimental sonnet for a creative writing degree module and it won the Canon Poets "Sonnet Or Not" competition in 2012. I had a strong childhood memory of my Grandpa Hughes and of my mother's deep love for him. At its heart, the poem is about family bonds and how we take strength from them in times of need.

Kathryn Alderman.