Skip to main content

The Friday Poem Review: Moon Jellyfish Can Barely Swim by Ness Owen


Watch how we glow 


“The energy that glows sublimely through Owen’s work has transformative potential… the work is rhythmical and strong, with sensitive, sensual portraits of the power of seawater… Encircled by the rugged waters of the Anglesey coast, Owen lands her poems “between lecturing and farming”. In the short interview at the back of the book, she summons the power of the writing process “to remember, or to try to understand”. In her hands, the poem-vessel drops anchor against dissolution and breakdown. Her hymn to the jellyfish launches us into waters of political unrest, merging environmental, familial, national and linguistic currents. I will remember the watery wisdom of their desultory radiance in ‘How we glow’: 

    We are braver than 
    we know. Even in 
    the smallest light 
    watch how we glow.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In Praise of Magnolia

  Teaching means a walk through Roath Park and along the lake. Look at this beauty!
Post a Comment
Read more

BOOK REVIEW: 'one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Welsh writing in English'

There is a wonderful extended review essay 'Ecological Literacy' by Steven Lovatt in the latest issue of New Welsh Review exploring recent books that seek to restore natural and cultural ecologies and recognise how the cultural nature of our landscapes is preserved in language. It offers an in-depth look at This Common Uncommon by Rae Howells, and here are three of our favourite snippets: "Rae Howells’ new poetry collection, This Common Uncommon , is a fierce and loving affirmation of the local, exemplifying the sort of care-full attention to the interdependence of people, other animals and plants that will be required if anything worthwhile is to be saved from the present ruin." "Howells confirms the evidence of her first collection, The Language of Bees, that she is a highly adept poet, possessing one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Welsh writing in English." "If West Cross Common is developed for housing, nobody can now claim ignoran...
Post a Comment
Read more

BUZZ: A GLIMPSE INTO THE ARCHIVES | ART EXHIBITION | REVIEW

BY  SUSIE WILD   ⋅  MAY 9, 2010  ⋅   POST A COMMENT FILED UNDER    ARCHITECTURAL STAINED GLASS ,  ART ,  GLYNN VIVIAN ,  PHOTOGRAPHY ,  SWANSEA A Glimpse Into The Archives: The 75 th  Anniversary of the Welsh School of Architectural Glass Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Alexandra Road, Swansea. Until 20 June 2010  (Tues-Sun 10am 5pm) *** Just a hop across the road from the glass department of Swansea Met, the Glynn Vivian celebrate its 75 th  birthday as a centre for glass art with an exhibition trawling the archives for art, documentary records and ephemera. The show is eclectic and attracts many of the schools former students and tutors to preview night. A large number have chosen to remain living in Swansea, and their output can be seen on major Swansea landmarks including Amber Hiscott’s glass leaf in Castle Square. More a nostalgia fest than anything, there are plenty of retro gems within this exhibition including th...
Post a Comment
Read more