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21st April, 2023

Friday Poem – ‘My Welsh Wool Coat’ by Amy Wack


This week’s Friday Poem is ‘My Welsh Wool Coat’ by Amy Wack from the anthology Where the Birds Sing Our Names. Edited by Tony Curtis, money raised from sales of the book go to Welsh children’s hospice  Tŷ Hafan based in Sully, South Wales.

Amy Wack MY WELSH WOOL COAT is the colour of sunrise over Castle Hill in a town called ‘little fort of the fishes’, my Welsh wool coat, with its too-short sleeves, its dense weave of water-blues, the pinks of the sun that grips the brink of the horizon, trying to rise. You can hear the chink of coins in its pockets and the mournful cries of gulls as they exit cliff-nests to ride the thermals that spiral over the harbour. Its heft deflects the chilblain cold that creeps in mists up the blue cobbles of Crackwell street. It is a coat much coveted in the metropolis, where people actually lean over in the bus to touch its heady texture, to coo at its colours. I hide a bit of flotsam in a pocket, a chip of cockle shell, a faded wedge of willow plate. Do I keep the coat, or does it keep me? I’m just the lucky skeleton that gets to hang Its glories on my bones for a few winters after which it will go to my daughter who will own it better being already fluent in its native tongue.

Where The Birds Sing Our Names is available directly from Tŷ Hafan in their shops or online. All proceeds from sales of the book go directly to the charity, no other fees are deducted.

Buy from Tŷ Hafan

Where the Birds Sing Our Names is an anthology created to raise money for Tŷ Hafan, a charity which provides care and support for children with life-limiting conditions, and their families, across Wales. Contributors include four National Poets – Gillian Clarke, Jackie Kay, Michael Longley and Gwyneth Lewis, as well as some of the best-known writers in the UK and beyond – from Max Boyce and Lord Rowan Williams to the young singer-songwriter Kizzy Crawford.

“This anthology enriches the reader. It is a book to be savoured and enjoyed – the celebration of each wonderful moment from conception through a toddler’s first steps and all the family dynamics of life: the simplest of encounters, of depth and beauty.” – Baroness Finlay of Llandaff.

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