Poems by Mary Burdett-Jones set to music by Jules Riley for baritone, clarinet and piano
Clyde Holmes’s Cwm Hesgin
(for Marion Löffler)
There is a doppelgänger, a double cloud in the landscape. There is peace: the sedges are not listless but still for a moment. No shrubs.
Nature’s palette is limited: the bleached yellow of old growth, a black crescent frame. And the lake? A rock set, a stepping stone, turquoise in a bog.
‘Cwm Hesgin Clyde Holmes’, Lluniadau (Aberystwyth, 2020), t. 26.
The poet as gardener
She aims for strong, simple lines, economical, quiet effects – nothing too flowery.
‘Y bardd fel garddwr’, Lluniadau (Aberystwyth, 2020), t. 28.
The poet as singer
The tongue moves in the bell in the echo chamber of the head. Having got her breath, with a characteristic gesture of her hand, from her heart comes a lyric.
‘Y bardd fel canwr’, Lluniadau (Aberystwyth, 2020), t. 28.
The poet’s duty
I heard someone who reads poetry in nine languages say that there is nothing to say, no language left.
One’s duty is to fall silent . . .
‘Dyletswydd y bardd’, Lluniadau (Aberystwyth, 2020), t. 27.
The self-conscious poet
She can be self-conscious, aware of the causes which give rise to creative tension and yet refrain from solving the problem – without the resolution the music can continue.
‘Y bardd yn ymwybodol’, Lluniadau (Aberystwyth, 2020), t. 27.
The poet as magpie
There must be an aura to words to be worth their weight in a poem. To the poet as magpie they are objets trouvés.
‘Y bardd fel pioden’, Lluniadau (Aberystwyth, 2020), t. 28.
Jane’s café
(for Jane Parry)
Gold rim and silver rim, tinkle of pink and the critic seeks the blue flower.
Discussing art and discussing music, Jane serves gracefully.
How do you hang Cambrian uplands and Aberystwyth bandstand?
© copyright texts and translations Mary Burdett-Jones 2023