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New British Poetry: 6 Wales - Page 4

© Dr J D Ballam

You have stolen from me my English 'now',/ My instantaneous, my immediate,/ And given me instead another 'now'-/ Your now-and-again, your now-in-a-minute/ To remind me of the longstanding debt./ I do not like it, but I understand./

I am a proud Sais and it ill becomes me/ To be reduced to the role of beggar,/

Elsewhere, in my favourite poem in the collection, 'Loss of Swifts', her local Council's order to re-locate a birdhouse provokes sentiments that are simultaneously heartfelt and gently mocking of both her own regrets and of poetic conventions:

I have lost them./ It is the last thing I think before sleep comes/ And the first on waking./

BACKWORK is a sensitive and intelligent book, which treats the everyday aches and surprises as importantly as they deserve to be, without ever seeking to transpose them into a universalizing metaphor for the times.

All of the books mentioned above are available from major booksellers worldwide, or on-line from http://www.amazon.com or http://www.amazon.co.uk. THE BLOODAXE BOOK OF MODERN WELSH POETRY can be purchased from http://www.bloodaxebooks.com. THE PTERODACTYL'S WING and BEING IN WATER are available from http://www.parthianbooks.co.uk, and BACKWORK from http://www.peterloopoets.co.uk.

Next month marks a departure for 'New British Poetry', as having completed this tour of British writing, I'll be focus on more specialized topics. In August, I'll be looking at the work of three radical feminist poets, published by Birmingham publisher Flarestack Publishing.

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