‘Goddesses and Anti-heroines’ – filmed poems in New Welsh Review

Poetry filmed, is poetry re-created in new form. It’s been an eye-opener to experience my poem ‘Churchyard’ interpreted as a multi-media artifact sponsored by Aberystwyth University.

‘Goddesses and Anti-heroines’ is a ten minute poetry showcase, commissioned by the New Welsh Review, which takes the work of Polly Atkin, Claire Booker, Alys Conran and Stav Poleg and teams it with young actors and film-makers at the University. What emerges is beautiful, arresting, even shocking.

The poetry showcase runs in the following order:  At the Yorkshire Sculpture Park by Alys Conran; Churchyard by Claire Booker; Site-specific Streetcar by Stav Poleg; Free Night by Polly Atkin; and Leave by Alys Conran.

My poem ‘Churchyard’ is beautifully performed by Freya Blyth over a collage of visuals including dandelion clocks, wind-swept hawthorn bushes and the murmurations of starlings. Thank you to everyone involved.

‘Goddesses and Anti-heroines was filmed by Emma Musty and Jes Rose and can be viewed on Vimeo or at the New Welsh Reader website. Please click the following link which takes you to the multi-media part of the website and scroll down: www.newwelshreview.com/multimedia.php

New Welsh Review is a monthly online supplement of review and comment. It’s a recent addition to sister publication New Welsh Reader which has been a leading Welsh-based literary magazine since the 1980s. You can follow The New Welsh Review for free at: www.newwelshreview.com

New Welsh angles on Frida Kahlo, RS Thomas and Serbian milkmen . . .

R.S. Thomas, Frida Kahlo, Serbian milkmen with beautiful hands – the autumn issue of New Welsh Review jiggles with style, content and thought-provoking analysis, together with poems by Claire Booker, Valerie Laws, Katrina Naomi and Rosie Shepperd.

And the wonderful, yet frequently misunderstood, poet R.S. Thomas is given a new slant by Professor M Wynn Thomas, whose book ‘RS Thomas: Serial Obsessive’ was published by the University of Wales Press this year.  

‘Woman Smoking’ by Shani Rhys James

Jasmine Donahaye offers a moving poetical response to Shani Rhys James’ exhibition of figurative paintings ‘The Rivalry of Flowers’ currently showing at Aberystwyth Art Centre before going on tour.

And there is a fascinating feature on the 19th century novelist Amy Dillwyn, whose unrequited love for her friend Olive Talbot became central to her work.

Want to read the winning poems in this year’s Cardiff International Poetry Competition? Fancy flash fiction  from the Flash In The Pen competition? Intrigued by how a dream inspired my poem ‘Is This What A Mother’s Bones Become?’ Look no further for your answers than issue 101 of New Welsh Review, which can be purchased from good book stores or direct from the following link: http://www.newwelshreview.com