October 2024

Posted on October 18, 2024October 18, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘Teach Jackdaws Avionics’ by Taz Rahman

Purple clematis clinging to a hedge near bright red brick houses

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Teach Jackdaws Avionics’ by Taz Rahman to celebrate his collection East of the Sun, West of the Moon being longlisted for the Laurel Prize 2024. Taz will be reading alongside other long- and shortlisted poets at the Laurel Prize Ceremony tomorrow, 19th October, at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Teach Jackdaws Avionics
The sun does not fuss, days survive, clematis curates purple
in alleyways for blackbirds to core arcs in hunger, sing
to flowers, discourse evenings stretched on grass. Fingers
frack surfaces, erupt touch, catch aphids, time, molten
cores, questions – questions like why is the asphodel so
hardy in its narrow grass-like leaves, the stem elongating
the handsomest spike in white so unheard lives may
meadow in its six flirting petals. The sun hides in roof-lines
past noon, enters fan vaults warming chimneys to seduce
the fattest pigeon lit like silty grains carrying miles. May
bees shake their own cowbells, vine inquisition into mahonia
blooming too early in inclines no right to smile, a kingdom of
floating purr climbs a wall, wags tail like another species, in
the field nearby goats cough, neigh soft, thud hooves, pretend
to be stallions feeding a chorus of want wanting to stir, morning
chairs touch napes of human arms inside a high street café, pine
flesh, the leftover rose, its wilting stem aching to sit upright, trace
the night gone, one last glance at something to trail lost snails.

Posted on October 11, 2024October 11, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘The Blood, Oh The Blood’ by Carrie Etter

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘The Blood, Oh The Blood’ by Carrie Etter from her collection Grief’s Alphabet in honour of it having been Highly Commended by the Forward Prizes and featured in the Forward Book of Poetry 2025.

The Blood, Oh the Blood
The month after your death,
the month I searched, gathered, sorted,
begged, wept, argued, and slept,
I bled and didn’t wonder.
I bled again and did
and asked why
and though you were everywhere–
the curtains’ cornflower meadows,
an Irish novel bookmarked Best Mum,
the silvertone watch on the dresser
still improbably ticking
without the company of your pulse–
you didn’t answer or
you were the answer,
the loss my body
revolted to bear.

Posted on October 4, 2024October 4, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘Golden Shovel: After Iris Murdoch’ by Katrina Naomi

Photo of the golden sky over a foamy sea

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Golden Shovel: After Iris Murdoch’ by Katrina Naomi from her collection Battery Rocks in honour of it having been Highly Commended by the Forward Prizes and featured in the Forward Book of Poetry 2025.

Golden Shovel: After Iris Murdoch
The sea is something that happens to you. An mor. An mor. This
is what I’ve learned as I rush each morning
like a penitent – diarghen – before a decent shrine. I
cannot – ha ny vynnav vy – help myself. I know this is simply
stated – forgive me – words mean so little since I dived
head and heart into
high tide, every pore, every follicle, alert. It goes deep
this affair. They say I was dunked in the water
at three days old. I’ve never dried myself off
never wanted terra firma – the
sensible, the understood. That isn’t living. The sea rocks
me awake, like sex; good sex, is the nearest
to swimming on a chill, bright day, out to
the far west – further. An mor. You’ll say I’m bragging but this is the
place to swim – to be freed, away from the house
– its reminders of being settled, where
you find all the oughts and shoulds, those horrid visitors. They
– their commanding voices – can’t be heard as I descend
into lanow, its bleak welcome, its byrla, one I almost
understand, am warmed by, despite its sheer
fall into nothingness out past the rocks. Yet
this neuvya – this swimming – still terrifies with
the light unable to filter through the folds
of cold, into the deep of under, how it blends, forms, reforms. And
darkness gathers like a shoal; where ledges
of granite glitter-shout. They are enough
to stop me sirening up, to
the known – aswonnys. Who wouldn’t make
every effort to stay? Yes, this is an obsession, a
glorious reacquaintance – kales – precarious
at best. I plunge from the rough-cut stairway
Kernewek (Cornish) words: an mor – the sea; diarghen – penitent or barefoot;
ha ny vynnav vy – and I don’t want to; lanow – a rising tide; byrla – embrace;
neuvya – to swim; aswonnys – known; kales – difficult.

This September, you’re invited to explore the unseen and the unsettling. From dark and menacing landscapes to the everyday terrors of domestic settings disturbingly close to home, these stories will horrify and delight in equal measure. Be prepared, for ‘this is a land of ancient power, and even more ancient beings...’ Pre-order the latest addition to our Welsh Gothic series, ‘Giving the Darkness Life’ on our website now.
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Stories by @markblayney1, Mary-Ann Constantine, @damianwalforddavies, Caradoc Evans, Dorothy K. Haynes, @lucie_mckhardy Arthur Machen, Elinor Mordaunt, John Llewellyn Probert, L.T.C. Rolt, @priyasharma1000, Edward Thomas, Elizabeth Walter and D.P. Watt
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@inpressbooks @books.wales #WelshGothic #SerenBooks #NationalYearOfReading2026 #SpookySeason #AutumnBooks

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This September, you’re invited to explore the unseen and the unsettling. From dark and menacing landscapes to the everyday terrors of domestic settings disturbingly close to home, these stories will horrify and delight in equal measure. Be prepared, for ‘this is a land of ancient power, and even more ancient beings...’ Pre-order the latest addition to our Welsh Gothic series, ‘Giving the Darkness Life’ on our website now.
.
Stories by @markblayney1, Mary-Ann Constantine, @damianwalforddavies, Caradoc Evans, Dorothy K. Haynes, @lucie_mckhardy Arthur Machen, Elinor Mordaunt, John Llewellyn Probert, L.T.C. Rolt, @priyasharma1000, Edward Thomas, Elizabeth Walter and D.P. Watt
.
@inpressbooks @books.wales #WelshGothic #SerenBooks #NationalYearOfReading2026 #SpookySeason #AutumnBooks

We had a wonderful time listening to @megan.c.hayes talking about her memoir ‘Glimmering’ with Kath Little from @bardic_books at St Illtud’s church in Llantwit Major on Saturday. Diolch yn fawr to everyone who joined us and to Kath for hosting! Copies of ‘Glimmering’ are available now in your local bookshop.
.
#Glimmering #Memoir #SerenBooks #IndependentBookshop #NationalYearOfReading2026

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We had a wonderful time listening to @megan.c.hayes talking about her memoir ‘Glimmering’ with Kath Little from @bardic_books at St Illtud’s church in Llantwit Major on Saturday. Diolch yn fawr to everyone who joined us and to Kath for hosting! Copies of ‘Glimmering’ are available now in your local bookshop.
.
#Glimmering #Memoir #SerenBooks #IndependentBookshop #NationalYearOfReading2026

Ebooks available now! ‘In Search of Sea Dragons’, ‘Muslim Wales’ and ‘The Waters That Raised Us’ are now available from all major ebook retailers meaning you can take them with you on the go 🎉 Do you prefer reading ebooks, print books or both?
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@severn.sea.fossils @azimwales @tayloredmonds #Ebooks #Kindle #SerenBooks #BooksFromWales #LoveReading

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Ebooks available now! ‘In Search of Sea Dragons’, ‘Muslim Wales’ and ‘The Waters That Raised Us’ are now available from all major ebook retailers meaning you can take them with you on the go 🎉 Do you prefer reading ebooks, print books or both?
.
@severn.sea.fossils @azimwales @tayloredmonds #Ebooks #Kindle #SerenBooks #BooksFromWales #LoveReading

🏆@maggiepoet continues her winning streak having won the Guyana Prize for Literature Poetry Award with her collection ‘I Sing to the Greenhearts’! Available now in bookshops nationwide and on our website!
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#AwardWinning #GuyanaPrize #Poetry #PoetryBooks #SerenBooks

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🏆@maggiepoet continues her winning streak having won the Guyana Prize for Literature Poetry Award with her collection ‘I Sing to the Greenhearts’! Available now in bookshops nationwide and on our website!
.
#AwardWinning #GuyanaPrize #Poetry #PoetryBooks #SerenBooks

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