John Powell Ward Archives

Posted on February 9, 2024February 9, 2024 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘Last Poem for Sarah’ by John Powell Ward

In honour of Valentine’s Day on 14th February, this week’s Friday Poem is the opening page of ‘Last Poem for Sarah’, a long poem by John Powell Ward from his pamphlet Last Poem for Sarah & Other Poems.

Last Poem for Sarah
Five years lost since that cruel day.
How down here even to start
an even quarter-worth of rhyme?
Maybe dream of you beside....
To say I can’t find what to say
declares the idiocy, the hurt
that fills each instant of the time
to linger mile on mile ahead.
I try to think of you as here,
but absence is a careful friend.
Demanding me to live without
the homes we shared, yet also see
new entities like lack of fear;
best ways to face the long time’s end
alone, still married, separate.
Best that a given, “no self-pity”
being the theme, over-sublime
and not some poet’s keening here.
Everything said here is true.
Banality of language yes
but such is how to steep the time
of week and day and every year
when I can feel for only you.
Rough method of recalling bliss....
I am blank page. You are blank page.
We start again not having finished.
There is a level curious curling
sweetly hung in air above you
so I recall that smitten rage
across your heart, full, undiminished.
The plain sky was an oyster-pearling;
out-of-date; eternal; love you.

Posted on August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 by Seren Books

Friday Poem – ‘Ernest Morgan’s House’ by John Powell Ward

Closeup photograph of an old book, oil lamp and an antique pair of glasses sitting on a desk

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Ernest Morgan’s House’ by John Powell Ward from his newly publish collection Last Poem for Sarah & Other Poems.

Ernest Morgan’s House
This was Ernest Morgan’s house. Today
It is his skull, the growing crowd
Has moved in through the cracks, fills hall
And stairs, spills out of windows, breathing
His final breath in the tiniest corner. Aloof
The belted truth of the auctioneer, but they
Go past him, they seek secrets of
The realm this old recluse had left, who felt
Dear man he had no friend; untruly,
Unrightly. It happened like this:
Missing the man whose absence let them in,
Cramming the rooms he’d sat in bolt, alone,
Guarding so close the voids his leaving left,
His lifetime done. Suns sets, and time
Forever leans on Ernest Morgan’s grave.

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.
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#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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