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24th November, 2023

Friday Poem – ‘Against Blood’ by Katherine Stansfield

Close up photo of a rusty old door locked with a padlock and chain.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Against Blood’ by Katherine Stansfield from her collection We Could Be Anywhere By Now. Katherine will be reading alongside Lynne Hjelmgaard at Seren First Thursday at Carnegie House in Bridgend on 7th December.

Against blood
A cutting-edge DNA test could determine how Welsh you are
– BBC Ne
ws, 24th September 2014
To say this is the way
you decide who I am and who I’m not,
a sample of body that speaks only
couplings and accidents,
emigration and abandonments,
Scotland and Ireland, to Buffalo and back.
To say this is the way
you sanction my belonging and my not,
like those wet days at school
that kept us penned in the hall,
the Cornish kids playing
genealogy games all through break:
and his father and his father.
To say this is the way
you prove what’s home and what’s not,
that identity is a permanent code
you can map in a lab
when a swab can’t show
all the timid love I have.
To say this is the way
leaves me on the wrong side
of a locked door I’ll never open
when for the first time I’m trying
the handle, trying to come in.

Join us on Thursday 7th December at Carnegie House in Bridgend for First Thursday. This month we’ll be joined by Lynne Hjelmgaard and Katherine Stansfield reading from their collections The Turpentine Tree and We Could Be Anywhere By Now. Tickets are available in advance via Tocyn.cymru, or on the door. As usual, the main readings will be followed by our popular open mic. You can also watch on Facebook live. We hope you can join us.

Seren First Thursday at Carnegie House in Bridgend. Thursday 7th December 7:30om GMT. In person and via facebook live. With Lynne Hjelmgaard and Katherine Stansfield. Join us at Carnegie House in Bridgend Town Centre for our monthly First Thursday reading and open mic night. Tickets £3 plus admin fee. Buy in advance at tocyn.cymru/en/events

Related Books

We Could Be Anywhere By Now

Katherine Stansfield

Buy now

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
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@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.
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#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?
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@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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