Nice to see David Hughes, Swansea and Working Out (Parthian Books) mentioned in The Friday Poem's article by Steven Lovatt on dialect poetry...
I arrange to meet up with David Hughes in Swansea’s Queen’s Hotel, a long-time haunt of poets and other artists, and formerly a place where Swansea dialect would have been thick in the air between the dockers, fishermen and workers at the various foundries and copperworks that made the city’s name. It’s mid-afternoon and the bar is only half-full, mostly with retirees and tradesman on a break. I hear no dialect, though the accent is evident enough. David has arrived before me and thoughtfully bought the first round. We’ve met a couple of times before, at poetry readings and also by chance in the street. He has published two books of poems, Tidy Boy in 1998 and last year’s Working Out. Although mostly in standard English, both collections also contain poems representing the Swansea dialect and accent. The opening stanza of the poem ‘Tidy Boy’ gives a good flavour:
We woz kids tgether, frommer same street.
I sat nex towim ry threw jewnyers.
Ewster goter play up iz ouse a lot,
iz mam never said nuthin much twuz;
iz ole manad buggud off yurzago.
Air woz oney im an iz mam inny ouse.
E wozquiet like, butter tidy boy.
We observe due silence for the first swig and then I ask David what tips the balance one way or the other when he’s deciding between standard and dialect...
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