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Friday Poem – ‘Rememory’ by Nerys Williams

Snowy UK street in the morning

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘Rememory’ by Nerys Williams from her third collection Republic. You can listen to our in depth interview with Nerys about Republic in episode 6 of The Seren Poetry Podcast Series 2.

19. Rememory I am lost in the contorted image of a pub. I scroll back to the pedestrian image but cannot get away from a couple who have ordered their dinner and are waiting. Faces pixelated, seated at a polished table. Thankfully I see the emergency exit. My cursor and I stumble down the patterned carpet step, finally to air and traffic. I have been “home” already, though home is a walk from my ex-boyfriend’s house near a cathedral graveyard. I never noticed that we had a back gate, it was rarely warm enough to hang our washing. Bell practice every Wednesday night, even with closed shutters, ear plugs, trying to enter Californian poetry for its last glimmer of warmth – discordant knells punctuated words. Naming the plants I never saw: Meadowsweet, Queen Anne’s Lace, Morning glory. Winter’s dazzling days, snow on the morning street. Marrow-cold in a house with only a small gas fire, cotton duvets, sheeted ice, socks in bed. Desperate for a taste of sun, the philosopher and I bought avocados, mashed them, added lemon and salt, turned up the heater. Our knitted-selves toasted dappled light with each dip.
Memories of my younger self often circle gatherings at modest feasts. Follow the cursor to a café filled with coffee, panettone and ice cream, orange, pink and green sweet boxes stacked on the shelves. Or, do I turn the corner to find my student-self? Encountering a stalker past bushes and winding river, I ran home breathless, sick. The night of celebrating scholarships to the US the philosopher, filmmaker and I were manifesto making. A night imagining passage on a liner, careering to Sinatra, romanticising ourselves in steerage. The figure at my heels gaining the measure of my two-step, three-step, four-step five-step, six, seven, eight…

The full box set of The Seren Poetry Podcast Series 2 is now available to listen to on your favourite podcast app. Search for The Seren Poetry Podcast and click like, follow or subscribe to have all future episodes delivered straight to your podcast feed.

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Announcing our 2024-25 Poetry List

Left to right: Tony Curtis, Carrie Etter, Grahame Davies, Katrina Naomi, Lorcan Black, Betty Doyle, Kathryn Bevis, Wendy Allen, Maggie Harris, Emily Cotterill, Bethany Handley

Seren’s poetry list continues to go from strength to strength under the careful guidance of our poetry editors Rhian Edwards and Zoë Brigley. As 2023 draws to a close, we’re delighted to announce the full list of fantastic collections we’ll be publishing between April 2024 and March 2025.

Our poetry list continues to champion new and established authors from both Wales and beyond. Popular Seren authors such as Tony Curtis, Carrie Etter, Grahame Davies, Katrina Naomi, Kathryn Bevis, and Maggie Harris are on the list alongside voices new to Seren such as Lorcán Black, Betty Doyle, Wendy Allen, Emily Cotterill and Bethany Handley.

Keep an eye on our website and social media channels in the new year for more information about each of these exciting collections.

April 2024

Leaving the Hills – Tony Curtis
Grief’s Alphabet – Carrie Etter
A Darker Way – Grahame Davies

July 2024

Battery Rocks – Katrina Naomi
Strange Husbandry – Lorcán Black
Oxygen & Light – Betty Doyle (pamphlet)

October 2024

The Butterfly House – Kathryn Bevis
Portrait in Mustard – Wendy Allen (pamphlet)

Feb 2025

I Sing to the Greenhearts – Maggie Harris
Significant Wow – Emily Cotterill
Cling Film – Bethany Handley (working title – pamphlet)

Don’t forget we also have two great collections publishing in February 2024. Cormorant by Elizabeth Parker and East of the Sun, West of the Moon by Taz Rahman. Keep an eye out for more information about each of these in the new year.

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Christmas with Poetry Wales

Issues of poetry wales laid out against a blue background in the shape of a Christmas tree

In today’s post, we’re highlighting some of the fantastic subscriptions offered by our sister-company Poetry Wales. Whether you’re looking for a gift or a treat for yourself, they have something for everyone.

Poetry Wales has been publishing hand-curated issues and special themed editions for 60 years. As well as being a platform for unpublished work by new and established poets from all over the world, each issue also contains a creative workshop by a working poet, an interview or feature by and with some of the brightest stars in Welsh and international poetry, and much more. Treat your loved ones to a subscription or single issue today!

Supporter Subscriptions

Three Poetry Wales covers slightly overlapping each other. Behind them is a lightly coloured circle.

Supporter Subscription – Gold

With Gold, subscribers get:

  • A print and digital subscription to Poetry Wales
  • Access to the full library of PW digital editions from 48.1 onwards (the last 10 years)
  • A mystery vintage PW issue from as early as 1965 or recent Seren poetry title with each new issue (choose which of these options you’d like at checkout)

If you think this would make the perfect gift for someone in your life, there’s an option to purchase a ‘Gift Subscription’ on the Poetry Wales website. The perfect way to keep up-to date with the Welsh poetry scene all year around.

Choose this subscription for £75 a year

Supporter Subscription – Welsh Gold

With the Welsh Gold subscription, subscribers receive:

  • A print and digital subscription to Poetry Wales
  • Access to the full library of Poetry Wales digital editions from issue 48.1 onwards (the last ten years)
  • Every Seren poetry title published from time of purchase
Three Poetry Wales covers slightly overlapping each other. Behind them is a lightly coloured circle.
Subscribe annually for £200

Print Subscriptions

Six colourful Poetry Wales issues overlap each other. The three most recent issues are in the foreground.

Print Subscription – Recurring Two Year

Subscribers who purchase now will get 6 forthcoming issues, including the Spring (59.3, March), Summer (60.1, July) and Winter (60.2, November) issues in 2024.

This would make a fantastic gift for an avid fan of poetry, ensuring they have a current issue for as long as the subscription is active.

Subscribe now from £48 every two years

Print Subscriber – Recurring One Year

Poetry Wales publishes 3 issues a year. Subscriptions purchased today will include Spring 2024 (59.3, March), Summer 2024 (60.1, July), and Winter 2024 (60.2, November) plus many more issues still to come!

You may notice some familiar faces amongst the pages of Poetry Wales. Seren poets who have been featured in recent issues include Rachel Carney, Lynne Hjelmgaard and Glyn Edwards.

Three of the most recent Poetry Wales covers slightly overlapping each other.
Subscribe now for £20 per year

Print Non-Recurring Subscriptions

Three of the most recent Poetry Wales covers slightly overlapping each other.

Print Subscription – One Year

These are the most popular subscriptions that Poetry Wales offer, and it’s easy to see why! They are ideal for anyone who is curious or looking to dip their toe into the world of Poetry Wales.

Anyone who subscribes now will get Spring 2024 (59.3, March), Summer 2024 (60.1, July), and Winter 2024 (60.2, November) issues as part of their subscription.

Subscribe now from £27

Print Subscription – Two Year

The next few years are going to be particularly exciting for Poetry Wales. If you fancy sticking around, two year print subscriptions purchased today will include Spring 2024 (59.3, March), Summer 2024 (60.1, July), and Winter 2024 (60.2, November) issues as part of their subscription. You will also get Spring 2025 (60.3), Summer 2025 (61.1) and Winter 2025 (61.2) the following year.

Six colourful Poetry Wales issues overlap each other. The three most recent issues are in the foreground.
Subscribe now from £48

Digital Subscription

Four Poetry Wales issues which slightly overlap each other. Each issue is outlined with a bold black line.

Digital Subscription

The cheapest option for people based outside of the UK, a digital subscription give you access to each issue on publication day (the first of March/July/November), plus access to our digital back catalogue, which is the last ten years. The archive is fully searchable, so it’s easy to find your favourite poet or poem at the click of a button.

Digital subscriptions are managed by Exact Editions – when purchasing you will be taken to their website to complete your purchase.

Subscribe now from £5.99 quarterly or £21.99 annually

Student and Low-Income Subscriptions

Student and Low-Income – Print

Poetry should be accessible to everyone, so Poetry Wales also offer a student and low-income subscriptions. Choose from £20 a year, £7 every 4 months (plus £7 sign-up fee), or £2 a month (plus £5 sign-up fee). These subscriptions include the same as a one year print subscription, so order today and you’ll receive Spring 2024 (59.3, March), Summer 2024 (60.1, July), and Winter 2024 (60.2, November) as part of your subscription.

Three of the most recent Poetry Wales issues slightly overlapping each other. 'Student and Low Income' is written on text which has been layered on top of the magazines.
Subscribe now from £20 per year

Looking for more poetry gift ideas? Take a look at our Poetry Gift Guide.

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Best Poetry of 2023 – round-up

Left to right: Rachel Carney, Kathryn Gray, Nerys Williams, Judy Brown

As the year draws to a close, several Seren poets and their recent collections have appeared on ‘Best of 2023’ lists. Here’s a round-up of Seren poetry collections currently grabbing the attention of reviewers:

This cover shows a photograph of a stone sculpture of a half-profile woman's face submerged beneath the waves. The text reads: Octopus Mind. Rachel Carney.

Octopus Mind | Guardian Best Poetry Books 2023

Rachel Carney’s debut poetry collection Octopus Mind has been featured in The Guardian as one of their Best Poetry Books of 2023.

Buy now

Hollywood or Home | Sunday Times Best Non-Fiction Poetry Books

Seren poet Kathryn Gray‘s latest collection Hollywood or Home has been listed in the Sunday Times as one of the 16 Best Non-Fiction Poetry books of 2023.

It was also selected by the London Review Bookshop as one of their Christmas 2023: Poetry titles.

Buy now
This cover shows an illustration of a woman wearing a yellow dress. She is walking down a pier surrounded by water. In the background there is lighting and a bare forest. The dress is drawn as if wind is blowing it to the left. On the right of the character is a figure in a shirt and dark trousers floating face down in the water. Hollywood or Home. Kathryn Gray. ‘‘Underpinning the comedy and satire... is a real pain at life’s jolts time’s realness” - Nick Laird.
This cover shows a colourful print of a woman dressed in a black hoodie with large bunny ears on the hood. She has dripping dark blue rings around her eyes and stands out against an acid yellow background. The text reads: Republic. Nerys Williams.

Republic | Sunday Irish Independent

Nerys Williams was featured in the Sunday Irish Independent Best Poetry Books of 2023 for her collection Republic, and was also chosen by two contributors to Wales Arts Review as 2023 recommendations.

Buy now

Lairs | London Review Bookshop

Lairs by Judy Brown was selected by London Review Bookshop bookseller John Clegg as one of his Poetry Books of the Year.

Buy now
This cover shows a 1950s style collage of a woman sitting in a field looking at a mysterious black orb. Red mountains stretch into the distance behind it. The text reads: Lairs. Judy Brown.
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Friday Poem – ‘The Larder’ by Judy Brown

Wheels of cheese sitting on a larder shelf.

This week’s Friday Poem is ‘The Larder’ by Judy Brown from her collection Lairs. You can listen to her talking in depth about the collection on Series 2 of The Seren Poetry Podcast. Listen and subscribe on your favourite podcast app to listen to the series so far.

The Larder In the shop’s moist basement the red wines lay prone in their cool dormitory. Beyond the jars of lobster bisque and canned truffle sauce, both Lancashires sat squat on their wood: Tasty and Mild like a pair of underground kings. No satisfaction in breaching the waxed cloth, breaking the stiff robes they were buried in. Only the owner had the right to draw the cutting wire twice through the horizontal before quartering. It was ritual, to bear each portion upstairs to the shop. Later we’d peel the cloth off the soft edge and unpuzzle the grain of the clotted blank face. Down there, too, was where they kept the unripe moons which were soft as what’s inside a baby’s unfused skull. In the dark they would salt to rock and start to spin. When at last the old satellite has worn to a nub, an uncut cheese will rise, white and purposeful with the sun’s reflected buttermilk light, to do its work. Think of the store of teeth a shark is born with; which, one by one, drift to the front of the mouth to take their turn to be the ones to shine, to bite.

Judy also appeared on the Mouthful of Air podcast to talk specifically about ‘The Larder’ with Mark McGuinness.

Listen
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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