Rhea Seren Phillips
SEINE TURNED SALTY IN THE PHARYNX
Imbibe the welkin as if ale;
culm smother perceptions that quale
claret, shrivels cadaverous
rivulets bubble ulcerous
distractions; dry gulch ‘us’ like fish.
pecker pu-pu putters, noirish
in a gyttja calcine jumble;
masquerade in the florae umbel
hock, coruscating papaya.
Petrichor belches flushed pitaya.
Sponges a stippled mosaic
against a brow; snag archaic
bubble wrap; relish minute crackles,
yeast beading pores…eyes of apples.
SPITTLE
Scoop the cacoa rind and toss.
Gorgon spits, succumbs to moss;
gnawed by zealot mutton.
MÔR LLAID CRAWLERS
Natterjacks, fie Net t’er Jacks!
Capt’n quicks as captan quacks;
cricks echo through bemired cracks.
Ysbryd mwd will liebeneath ysbryd mwd,
Hooks lost in the mwd dark; stark sei-tracks;
ysbryd mwdysbryd mwd.
CERDD O DDIEUOGRWYDD
Sluaghs inhaled quim. Chafed geum bell
bank westward, gwallt towed; toad knell.
Vellum crowbar thrust, threst dell;
bitch-bent for ci muscatel.
Notes:
Seine turned Salty in the Pharynx: The poetic form has been influenced by cynghanedd groes [Welsh metre] and cyhydedd fer [Welsh poetic form].
Spittle: The poetic form has been influenced by an englyn milwr [Welsh poetic form].
Môr Llaid Crawlers: Môr Llaid means Sea Mud while ysbryd mwd means mud spirit in Welsh. The first three lines of the poem have been influenced by an englyn milwr [Welsh poetic form] and the metre has been influenced by cynghanedd draws [Welsh metre]. The second stanza has been influenced by a cyhydedd hir [Welsh poetic form] that uses the A rhyme from the first stanza to complete the B rhyme. The metre had been influenced by cynghanedd draws [Welsh metre]. The metre in the fifth line has been influenced by cynghanedd sain [Welsh metre]. The last line is an envoi of cynghanedd groes.
The poem has been influenced by Irish immigrants in the 18th century. In 1820, poverty in Ireland had forced many to leave their homes in the hopes of work in America and Wales. Newport was a prospering dock exporting coal among other merchandise. Threatened by the high number of Irish immigrants, the authority in Newport passed a law that prevented Irish settlers from entering Wales from a moored vessel. They hired watchmen to enforce this law. The captains of these ships, skippers, bypassed this law by taking their ships along the River Usk before leaving their passengers disembark onto the muddy plains near St. Brides. The people became known as The Mud Crawlers.
The journey to land was a perilous one. Irish, often families, would have to scramble through the mud in the cover of darkness. They carried their possessions on their backs and most of these were lost during the rush to land. A large number died trying to reach Wales in this manner. As they crossed, parents would whisper their children’s names while keeping out of sight of the watchmen. They were terrified of being sent back to Ireland where they would most likely starve to death. The mud would drag the souls down or they would drown. Bones have been found along the site and closer to the river the bones of children have been discovered.
Those that did make it to land were exposed to abuse. As they carried their homes on their backs, they were an ideal target for thieves and murderers. Irish visitors to Wales would hope to be reunited with family and friends but many left without ever knowing what happened to their loved ones, or, aggrieved by what they did eventually discover.
Cerdd o Ddieuogrwydd: The title is Welsh for Poem of Innocence. The poetic form has been influenced by an englyn proest cyfnewidiog [Welsh poetic form] and the poem’s metre has been influenced by cynghanedd lusg [Welsh metre].
The poem was inspired by Gwerful Mechain’s poem, Cywydd y Cerdor, and Dafydd ap Gwilym’s poem, Cywydd y Gâl. The poem explores the perspectives of Gwerful Mechain and Dafydd ap Gwilym through the narrative of sex between a new wife and her husband during the 14th century.
Slaughs are spirits that manifest as shadows of the restless dead who hunt souls. They originate from Celtic mythology. It is possible to call a Sluagh through desperate loneliness and sadness. They enter homes from the West so it was customary to keep west-facing windows closed if anyone within the home was ill or had recently died.
Seine turned Salty in the Pharynx: The poetic form has been influenced by cynghanedd groes [Welsh metre] and cyhydedd fer [Welsh poetic form].
Spittle: The poetic form has been influenced by an englyn milwr [Welsh poetic form].
Môr Llaid Crawlers: Môr Llaid means Sea Mud while ysbryd mwd means mud spirit in Welsh. The first three lines of the poem have been influenced by an englyn milwr [Welsh poetic form] and the metre has been influenced by cynghanedd draws [Welsh metre]. The second stanza has been influenced by a cyhydedd hir [Welsh poetic form] that uses the A rhyme from the first stanza to complete the B rhyme. The metre had been influenced by cynghanedd draws [Welsh metre]. The metre in the fifth line has been influenced by cynghanedd sain [Welsh metre]. The last line is an envoi of cynghanedd groes.
The poem has been influenced by Irish immigrants in the 18th century. In 1820, poverty in Ireland had forced many to leave their homes in the hopes of work in America and Wales. Newport was a prospering dock exporting coal among other merchandise. Threatened by the high number of Irish immigrants, the authority in Newport passed a law that prevented Irish settlers from entering Wales from a moored vessel. They hired watchmen to enforce this law. The captains of these ships, skippers, bypassed this law by taking their ships along the River Usk before leaving their passengers disembark onto the muddy plains near St. Brides. The people became known as The Mud Crawlers.
The journey to land was a perilous one. Irish, often families, would have to scramble through the mud in the cover of darkness. They carried their possessions on their backs and most of these were lost during the rush to land. A large number died trying to reach Wales in this manner. As they crossed, parents would whisper their children’s names while keeping out of sight of the watchmen. They were terrified of being sent back to Ireland where they would most likely starve to death. The mud would drag the souls down or they would drown. Bones have been found along the site and closer to the river the bones of children have been discovered.
Those that did make it to land were exposed to abuse. As they carried their homes on their backs, they were an ideal target for thieves and murderers. Irish visitors to Wales would hope to be reunited with family and friends but many left without ever knowing what happened to their loved ones, or, aggrieved by what they did eventually discover.
Cerdd o Ddieuogrwydd: The title is Welsh for Poem of Innocence. The poetic form has been influenced by an englyn proest cyfnewidiog [Welsh poetic form] and the poem’s metre has been influenced by cynghanedd lusg [Welsh metre].
The poem was inspired by Gwerful Mechain’s poem, Cywydd y Cerdor, and Dafydd ap Gwilym’s poem, Cywydd y Gâl. The poem explores the perspectives of Gwerful Mechain and Dafydd ap Gwilym through the narrative of sex between a new wife and her husband during the 14th century.
Slaughs are spirits that manifest as shadows of the restless dead who hunt souls. They originate from Celtic mythology. It is possible to call a Sluagh through desperate loneliness and sadness. They enter homes from the West so it was customary to keep west-facing windows closed if anyone within the home was ill or had recently died.
Copyright © Rhea Seren Phillips 2018
Rhea Seren Phillips is a PhD student at Swansea University. She is researching how Welsh poetic forms and metre in the English language could be used to reinterpret a contemporary Welsh cultural identity. She has been published in The Edge of Necessary: Welsh Innovative Poetry 1966 – 2018 (Boiled String and Aquifer Press, August 2018), in several magazines and Gogoneddus Ych-a-Fi: an exhibition of work by contemporary Surrealists (Cardiff Metropolitan University, February-April 2018). She runs a website dedicated to the promotion of Welsh poetic forms and metre in the English language and tweets @rhea_seren. Her work appeared previously in Molly Bloom 15.