"No river like your first river"

Over the last couple of months I've been working on a series of radio scripts, looking at Welsh folk tales. It's been a very enjoyable experience and I've been able to link some of the stories with walks in relevant areas, which has made it doubly enjoyable. So many tales  (such as the Lady of Llyn y Fan Fach, The Three Sisters of Plynlimon, Cantre'r Gwaelod) are associated with rivers, lakes or the sea; my favourite walks are always by water and through woods, so I've really been able to indulge myself !

I'm obviously not alone in my love of rivers. So many writers seem drawn to them. I'm currently reading a poetry anthology - The River's Voice, edited by Angela King and Susan Clifford - which spans several hundred years worth of river poems, with Tennyson and Wordsworth cheek by jowl with Ted Hughes, Carol Ann Duffy and Seamus Heaney. What is the lure of a river for such writers? The symbolic importance of its journeying? Its links with past and future generations? The vital role it plays in sustaining communities?

Most of my life has been lived in close proximity to one river or another. I feel at home by running water, inspired by its movement, its constancy yet its unpredictability. Last week I finished the Usk Valley Walk that runs from Newport to Brecon; I was born a stone's throw from the Usk, and to quote a poem I came across a few years ago, "There's no river like your first river". For a long distance footpath the walk is actually quite short - only 48 miles - but it passes through fantastic countryside and interesting villages and there are glimpses of a lot of industrial archaeology that have direct bearing on my family history. The walk utilises quite a bit of the towpath of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal (or the Mon and Brec as it's known locally), looking down on the river; with the autumn colours and boating activity on the water it was both a relaxing and an energizing experience. The week before we had almost finished the Wye Valley Walk from Chepstow to Plynlimon (a more ambitious 136 miles) but time and the weather got the better of us. Still, only another five and a half miles to go there when we can resume next spring!

Reflections on "The Mon and Brec" 

 

National Poetry Day

The first Thursday in October has been National Poetry Day since 1994; it was begun, and continues to be organised, by the Forward Arts Foundation. Tomorrow sees this year's celebration across the country; the theme for 2020 is "Vision", with a strap line of "See it like a poet!" Perhaps we're all seeing things a little differently just now, and many of the live events that were planned have been modified, moved on line or otherwise changed in nature but there's no doubt that both the written and spoken varieties of poetry will be much in evidence here, there and everywhere - wherever enthusiasts can take them. Look out for your local events. 

A little ahead of the day, last Friday evening saw a great on-line launch for two collections by my friends and colleagues Derek Healy and Marilyn and Howard Timms. The evening was part of Cheltenham Poetry Festival's year round programme of events that has sprung up in the wake of Covid. It was very well attended, and well worth attending too. I've written before about Derek's second collection Home (Graffiti Books 2020) but it was a great pleasure to hear him reading from it; his poems are always thought provoking and not infrequently amusing too. Deciphering the Maze (Indigo Dreams 2020) explores Howard and Marilyn's early and shared lives, with very moving references to the cancers of which they are both survivors. It's another collection that rewards reading and rereading, with so much to it.

                                                           

Getting autumn underway

Radio silence for a few weeks as I've been away / unwell / inundated! But I'm home again now with things more on an even keel and trying to work through what should have been done but hasn't been yet. It does seem a rather strange early autumn though; usually by now we're settling into the September routine - groups meeting up again, classes restarting etc. - but this year it's just more of the same, with Zoom featuring large in most things we do, as it did all over the summer. How fortunate we are though that technology does afford us the opportunity to stay connected when the virus conspires against us.

One thing that has got done (at last!) is the final preparation of my poetry collection which should make it to the printers this week. It will be coming out shortly with Graffiti Books. On Friday my Catchword colleague Derek Healey (poetry editor with Graffiti magazine) will be launching his collection "Home"; I'm delighted to have been invited to read with him and Rona Laycock at the virtual launch. "Home" should have had its debut at the Cheltenham Poetry Festival in April but was a casualty of the lockdown, along with all the other events of the festival. Anna Saunders, the Festival Director, has been very successful however in arranging a year long programme of on-line readings, launches and open mics that has attracted a world-wide audience. Another silver lining. 

The best laid plans ...

We've recently returned from a trip to Mid Wales that didn't go quite to plan. Whoever would have thought that a walking expedition in Wales in August would have to be abandoned not because of rain but because of the heat?! We did manage two further shortish stretches of our Wye Valley Walk project but, when the temperature rose above 30 degrees and kept rising, discretion was the better part of valour and we opted out for the time being. That should have freed us up to carry out some research in the area for a new non-fiction book I've started working on (loosely based around my husband's family history) but of course all the relevant archives were closed because of the Covid-19 situation ...

In the event we actually had a very useful time pursuing some research from a rather more personal angle, and meeting some distant relatives in the process; that's led me to rethink the approach I'd planned to take quite considerably - and it will probably be a far more interesting book because of it! We met some very knowledgeable people and came upon some unexpected, fascinating places - none more so than the mill my husband's great great great grandfather worked in 1856! Hidden in a remote dell, miles off any beaten track, from the outside it looked virtually derelict; to our amazement, when we ventured up a rickety ladder, we found almost the complete workings still intact and looking as if they could be coaxed back into action tomorrow. 

Going rather more to plan has been the preparation of my poetry collection, which should see the light of day this autumn. It's had a long gestation and I'll be glad to see it safely delivered now. That has a poem in it about a mill, Clenchers Mill near Malvern, which has been beautifully restored and is occasionally open to the public - well worth a visit should you have the opportunity.

Give us this day …

Except for days like this

when history, briefly resurrected,

leaps into life to catch us unawares,

they’re stilled and silenced now -

wallowers, brayers, bridge trees, tuns.

Alien to our generation,

those names our great grandparents knew,

whose daily bread depended on them -

stone nuts, runners, damsels, shoes.

But in this soundscape of the miller’s world -

the clank of wheel, the scrape of stone -

we haul them back like sacks of grain,

dust them off, reclaim them for the moment -

launder box, penstock, layshaft, flume.

Copyright Gill Garrett 2020.

A sad situation

I was much saddened to read that the poetry component of some literature exams is to be dropped in the wake on the Covid-19 situation. I know I'm not alone in this - I've seen a lot on line and in print from other disappointed writers who feel that it's symptomatic of those in charge having little appreciation of the actual subject matter on which they're pontificating. Poetry is such an integral part of our literary heritage and we've recently seen a tremendous rise in the number of young people enjoying poetry, writing poetry, performing poetry. Yes, it can be quite demanding on students in an educational environment, but is that a reason to do away with it?

I've been very heartened to see the number of younger people taking part in workshops over the period of lockdown - and very impressed by their contributions. I recently sat in on a Writing West Midlands workshop at which Sara-Jane Arbury was the guest speaker. She was talking about her very exciting work with children and young people's groups; Writing West Midlands coordinates twenty two separate groups for 8 -18 year olds. Perhaps we are now going to have to depend on agencies such as these to keep the flame alight if schools are opting out - but how many youngsters, unable to access such opportunities, will that then exclude? 

A world away and nearer to home

Paradoxically, the lock-down has opened up the world in some ways. Having to use platforms such as Zoom to meet up with writing groups, attend workshops and generally keep in touch in the writing community, things have become much more international, with all the advantages that can bring. Last week I was in one workshop with participants from Uganda, Spain and Canada, earlier this week in another with poets from the States, Belgium and Ghana. I sometimes feel that groups can get more than a bit "cosy" and it's a breath of fresh air to meet and greet writers from very diverse backgrounds, with often very different approaches and viewpoints. Especially when they challenge your own!

Last Friday's Cheltenham Poetry Festival workshop with Rowan McCabe was fascinating. I'd not heard him read before and loved his perceptive but gentle take on everyday life. He's currently the poet in residence at Wordsworth's house in the Lake District, but Covid has obviously meant that's a bit of a sticky wicket at the moment. Undaunted, he's offering "poetry by post" in Cockermouth! Having been a "door to door poet" in the past (yes, that's just what it says it is!), he's now sending stamped addressed envelopes to random addresses in the town offering a poetry service by return - and getting a fair number of takers. If you've not come across his work, do look him up.

Now that the five mile limit has been lifted in Wales, we're properly underway again with our Wye Valley Walk project. Last week we were covering some of the ground so familiar from Kilvert's Diary. Rural life may have changed a bit since he was writing in the 1870s but the bones of the deep Radnorshire countryside have changed very little. No wonder it has inspired such fantastic prose and poetry - it really is exceptionally beautiful.

Builth Wells next stop ...

A different Ledbury 2020

We're getting used to having to "go" to festivals on line now, of course, but I shall miss a proper visit to Ledbury this year. I love the town itself - the beautiful architecture, the narrow streets and lanes, the shops with their festival contributions on display, the lovely old tea and coffee shops - and the poetry is never less than inspirational. This would have been the opening weekend in normal times; instead, this is it for this year, two days with nine events. But they should certainly be worth registering for - or you should be able to catch up on the Festival YouTube Channel afterwards.

There's a preview at ten o'clock this evening on Radio 3's The Verb, where you're invited to "celebrate the spirit of the Ledbury Poetry Festival".  Poet Laureate Simon Armitage will be opening the weekend itself on Saturday lunchtime. His session will be followed by the competition winner's event, Kim Moore celebrating European poetry, poetry films made by the Young Writers Collective, poetry of the lockdown and so much more. Do check the website and see what's on offer - and of course it's all free.