Murmur

By Menna Elfyn

Menna Elfyn's latest collection in Welsh and English is full of murmurings, such as the need 'to walk the earth as if there's a baby sleeping next door'. Murmur is a poetry of meditation, from the reverberations of dead poets to murmurs of the heart which force the poet to dwell on the irregular beat of the poet's lot. Distant sounds too are heard from captivity in a sequence of poems about the last princess of Wales, Catrin Glyndwr, daughter of Owain Glyndwr, who was incarcerated with her children in the Tower of London for over two years until their mysterious death. Fittingly enough, mur-mur in Welsh also means wall-wall, so the book's leitmotif is one that stresses the distance between words and worlds -and the way poetry is a language beyond language which we can sometimes only grasp through sound. Menna Elfyn is the best-known, most travelled and most translated of all Welsh-language poets. The extraordinary international range of her subjects, breathtaking inventiveness and generosity of vision place her among Europe's leading poets. Murmur is her first new book since Perfect Blemish: New & Selected Poems / Perffaith Nam: Dau Ddetholiad & Cherddi Newydd 1995-2007, and includes translations of poems by Welsh folk hero and poet of peace Waldo Williams (1904-71) which challenge the notion of the Celtic melancholy and testify to a 'hesitant hope'. Her own poems have facing English translations by leading Welsh poets: Elin ap Hywel, Joseph P. Clancy, Gillian Clarke, Damian Walford Davies and Paul Henry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
• Release date: Mar 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781780370774

Menna Elfyn

Menna Elfyn is a poet and playwright who writes with passion of the Welsh language and identity. Her bilingual selections, Eucalyptus: Detholiad o Gerddi / Selected Poems 1978-1994 from Gomer and Perfect Blemish: New & Selected Poems / Perffaith Nam: Dau Ddetholiad & Cherddi Newydd 1995-2007 from Bloodaxe were followed by two bilingual collections, Murmur (2012) and Bondo (2017), also from Bloodaxe. She also co-edited The Bloodaxe Book of Modern Welsh Poetry (2003) with John Rowlands. When not travelling the world for readings and residencies, she lives in Carmarthen. She was Wales’s National Children’s Laureate in 2002.

Book preview

MENNA ELFYN

MURMUR

Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation

Menna Elfyn’s latest collection in Welsh and English is full of murmurings, such as the need ‘to walk the earth as if there’s a baby sleeping next door’. Murmur is a poetry of meditation, from the reverberations of dead poets to murmurs of the heart which force the poet to dwell on the irregular beat of the poet’s lot.

Distant sounds too are heard from captivity in a sequence of poems about the last princess of Wales, Catrin Glyndwr, daughter of Owain Glyndwr, who was incarcerated with her children in the Tower of London for over two years until their mysterious death. Fittingly enough, mur-mur in Welsh also means wall-wall, so the book’s leitmotif is one that stresses the distance between words and worlds – and the way poetry is a language beyond language which we can sometimes only grasp through sound.

Menna Elfyn is the best-known, most travelled and most translated of all Welsh-language poets. The extraordinary international range of her subjects, breathtaking inventiveness and generosity of vision place her among Europe’s leading poets. Murmur is her first new book since Perfect Blemish: New & Selected Poems / Perffaith Nam: Dau Ddetholiad & Cherddi Newydd 1995-2007, and includes translations of poems by Welsh folk hero and poet of peace Waldo Williams (1901-71) which challenge the notion of the Celtic melancholy and testify to a ‘hesitant hope’. Her own poems have facing English translations by leading Welsh poets: Elin ap Hywel, Joseph Clancy, Gillian Clarke, Damian Walford Davies and Paul Henry.

COVER PHOTOGRAPH

Staircase to the Cathedral (Spain, 1937) by Kati Horna

COLECCIÓN ANDRÉS BLAISTEN

Menna Elfyn

MURMUR

I Beca,

am ryfeddod goleuni

To Beca,

for the wonder of light

CYDNABYDDIAETH | ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the editors of the following publications where some of these poems or translations first appeared: Agenda, Clebran, New Welsh Review, Roundyhouse, Taliesin, Poetry, Poetry Wales and Zoland Poetry.

The sequence of poems on Catrin Glyndŵr began its journey with a commission for words on a sculpture in Wallbrook Gardens, London. ‘Salt’ was completed on the Wales-India chain initiative organised by Welsh Literature Exchange. ‘Hancesi Hanes’ (‘Handkerchief Stories’) was commissioned by Chapter Arts Centre to celebrate the new countries who joined the European Union in 2003. ‘O Dad’ first appeared in Merch Perygl: Cerddi 1976-2011 (Gomer Press, 2011).

As ever, my thanks to my translators, who have enabled me to continue to write poetry solely in the Welsh language, and whose commitment and love towards the language would need more than ten words to express.

This book is published with the financial support of Cyfnewidfa Lên Cymru / Wales Literature Exchange.

TRANSLATORS

EAH: Elin ap Hywel

JPC: Joseph P. Clancy

GC: Gillian Clarke

DWD: Damian Walford Davies

ME: Menna Elfyn

PH: Paul Henry

CYNNWYS | CONTENTS

Title Page

Dedication

Cydnabyddiaeth | Acknowledgements

Ghazal Colli | Ghazal: Loss

Carco yn y Crem | Babysitting in the Crematorium

Dod i’w coed | Growth Rings

Arolygwr y gwenyn meirch | The Wasp Inspector

Afalau minswyn | Bittersweet Apples

Adar o’r unlliw | Birds of a Feather

Tŵr canu | The Singing Tower

Cerdd Gocos | The Cocklewoman

Halen y Ddaear | Salt

Y Glwyd | The Gate

Hancesi Hanes | Handkerchief Stories

Ar daith beryg | Danger’s Walk

Arian sychion | Filthy Lucre

Sul gyda’r cŵn yn Bwcarést | Sunday with dogs in Bucharest

Drws yn Epynt | A door in Epynt

Ymwelydd | Visitor

Murmuron | Murmurs

Oed Llawn Addewid | The days of our years are…

Catrin Glyndŵr | Catrin Glyndŵr

Cyrraedd | Arrival

Colli amser | Lost Time

Dynwared Adar | Birdsong

Digwyddiad | Incident

Edliw | Reproach

Siôl | Shawl

Tlws gwallt | Hair Jewel

Gweoedd | Webs

Llestri | Dishes

Hwiangerddi | Lullabies

Epil | Offspring

Byw fy hunan | Living

Hunllefau | Nightmares

Ymadael | Stillness

Rhagolygon