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READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH CAROLE STANDISH MORA HERE
Talk about writing poems.
It is like a disappearing act
or the magic
of slight-of-hands. It is art,
it is science,
it is none of the above.
A blind person can do it,
even the deaf and dumb.
A kind of intelligence
is needed, but like too much salt,
will ruin the dish.
There can never be too much heart.
Wishing
for a certain outcome invariably
leads to blind alleys.
At the same time, getting lost,
good and lost is
advisable – up a creek even.
If you can put on a cloak and pretend
you’re an ancient eardstapa,
that helps too,
even if you have to
look up a word or two.
Somedays the recipe is very
difficult to follow,
many ingredients are
unknown, or very hard
to find, or way too
expensive.
The hunger is strange and impossible
to appease.
If the plums appear magically,
eating them immediately
is not advised.
It is best to gather them
into a bowl, a blue or yellow one perhaps,
and set them
on a table near a window.
You might also leave them for a day
or two, practicing remembering their smell,
while in some other room.
While in this other place, take out a deck of cards
and build a card house,
nothing fancy.
You might also blow it down for fun.
When you’ve run out of games to play,
take down the dulcimer and sit for awhile
playing, even if you don’t really know how.
Then, as the afternoon light is giving way to twilight,
you might go polish a plum, then
bite into it when you’re ready.
A sweetness will fill your mouth, sometimes
with a touch of sour.
Notice how wet the inside of your mouth feels then.
And if you keep on like that soon you’ll reach the seed,
which can be thrown away or planted -– I advise the latter.
And, whoever said there is a way out of this mess
was wrong. – there is no way out. The trick is in
reversals – trial and all – it is worth it.
There’s a trail of sorts, that is made
in the walking. Step by step
a new land. Lost and found,
arriving and leaving.
Or maybe, it is a kind of circle dance with words,
danced to a music only you can hear.
So, become a magician, cook up a storm, wander,
linger, enjoy the changing weather.
Take shelter here.
Made in the Shade
Growing in the gray sunny sidewalk is a green lichen
not like disintegration, though my athletic shoes are
and made in Taiwan, or China, or …
Still moving captured born
the news of the day
bites hardened already beyond
teeth, white, too polished, broken
fragmented minted running
as fast as it can spilling onto
screens caught as it has always been
within framed
regret
Take Syria, the children there lack cereal choices
(aren’t there too many already?)
Take Iran, the children there sleep under cruel skies.
Take Uganda, the children there hack each others
faces because someone stole their childhood.
The video game skips certain parts – rewind – then replay is no better
Pause
The news of the day born captured moving
still born
run as fast as you can
stop
walk slowly, don’t look back,
children are watching
now wait
the hunger this all points to is
still there
bitter hunger.
The Magnolia Grandiflora, with its seeds like bright, freshly
painted red fingernails, makes me think of Banyan trees.
I’ve never been to India, but some of the manhole covers
around here are clearly marked as having been made there.
The night blooming Jasmine where I walked today smells like
night blooming – blooming night
Made in the shade –
while I try to remember that the Sun
and Moon are perpetually
dancing.
Nothing is Perfect
Innocence can’t save us and yet
It does compensate for things lost.
The well swept walk echoes with
Sounds of idle thoughts, of sweeping.
Hunched over to hold the hard stick
Of the broom, a quiet settles.
Inside focus shifts to sweeping action.
The mind slows.
Go on, it says, sweep the walk,
Watch leaves scatter, listen to bristle,
Meeting ground, the swift opening
To nothing, a clean path, innocence returned.
For the moment, lost things settle
Into lost places, and no thing
Is really entirely innocent, just young,
Newly accustomed to the imperfect
Idle thought, moving slowly back
And forth, obscuring something found.
Another Day
As we move into the day, yet
another day, we might find beauty
here, even though the land is
wasted in places.
In others when we look closer,
something holds forth,
a fine perfection.
The concrete curbs, drawn
so meticulously, outline our wanderings,
as Cadmus must have imagined obliquely.
The world’s delight is a brief dream,
hold still within this.
Speaking of Rooms
Remember when I spoke of rooms,
The ones Dutch painters fill with light
Where moments fixed and finite dwell
As people work and rest and wait?
I told you how I long to stay
Within those bright cool rooms
And listen to the self-same sounds
Then sit with apples in my lap.
Or light a fire, then by the window
Stand and gaze awhile, in stillness
Until I leave that place behind to
Make my own small picture here.
Yesterday
Just outside my bedroom window my mother dug in the dry earth,
trying to make a place to plant an olive tree sapling. Some days
I watched her from inside my room and examined the lead
that held the diamond shaped pieces of glass in place,
where a three-paned window lined my blue window seat.
Red quarry tile lined the floors of the long hallway, of the
new house on Golden View Drive, the house where we all
were waiting for the new landscaping to grow in out front.
It was really hot that summer, but the tile floor
was cold to bare feet most mornings and my new room
all blue, green, bright and cool.
I spent hours memorizing the curves in the headboard of my four poster,
canopied bed. Smooth shapes carved into tall posts and the delicate
turning of the piece at the foot, surrounded in Maplewood and white pinafore.
Sometimes I lay on the new blue carpet in my room, and listened
to Yesterday play over and over on my first 45. I wandered the orange groves
playing Indian, drew horses, and kept pet mice that ate their babies
if you didn’t separate them at birth.
Surveyor 1 landed on the moon.
I worked at that place out back off and on with my mother all summer,
but we just kept hitting bedrock.
And my father was never home somehow – lost
in the wrong work, when he could have been
with us
digging.
* * *
West Coast Eisteddfod Online Poetry Contest - Five Poems (submitted 9/15/14)
Copyright: 2014 Carole Standish Mora
Five Poems: Interview With Carole Standish Mora - 2014 WCE Poetry Competition Winner
By AmeriCymru, 2015-02-02
READ THE WINNING ENTRY 5 POEMS HERE
AmeriCymru: Hi Carole. You won the West Coast Eisteddfod Poetry Competition 2014 with your submission - 'Five Poems'. What can you tell us about your entry?
Carole: Hi Ceri. Yes, of course, I’ll be glad to. I’m very honored to have five of my poems selected this year by Peter Thabit Jones, and look forward to having my poems appear in a special chapbook section of The Seventh Quarry .
When I first came across the AmeriCymru site I had been doing some genealogical research, and was excited to find a site for people of Welsh ancestry. Once I joined, I came across the poetry competition page, and began pouring through my poems to find five that might make up a solid submission. The first four poems are the most recent, and the last poem “Yesterday” was written when I was earning my MFA in Creative Writing. I write in a range of styles, sometimes using common diction, and at other times, practice pressing into more dense, lyrical, or language based styles. That said, I simply love the sound of language, and the montage effect of images in poems that sort of paint a tableau, or vignette, representing a moment, memory, place, or philosophical idea. This is a somewhat random grouping, but I chose the first poem “Talk about writing poems.” because it encourages the writing of poems, and it uses the word “eardstapa,” an Old English word meaning “wanderer,” referencing, obliquely, an ancient poem entitled “The Wanderer.” The second poem, “Made in the Shade” came about one day while walking, and thinking about some of the more disturbing things that are happening in the world. The text is “exploded” to represent the sense of fits and starts, of fragmentation, and the way memories “play” like a recording does sometimes. The poem “Another Day” is a kind of meditation on duration, and it references a legendary person from antiquity, Cadmus, the founder of Thebes.
I like to mix obscure details like this with the commonplace. The next poem “Nothing is Perfect” is another sort of philosophical meditation, set within mundane experience. Often when writing a poem the process itself, the sound of the language, leads me into a place where images begin to percolate, and the resulting poem is somewhat of a discovery. This was one of those times. Sometimes I experiment with different types of formal styles of poetry, so the next poem “Speaking of Rooms” is an example of an ekphrasis poem, meaning a poem that sets out to represent a work of visual art. I simply love the Dutch painters' renditions of the interiors of homes and daily life from that time. I kept one particular painting in my mind’s eye while I worked on this more formal poem, written in tetrameter, with five lines per stanza. The last poem “Yesterday” is another free verse poem, which is the way I usually write. This one simply draws from some personal memories, working with images I have of one of my childhood homes, and the atmosphere there at the time.
AmeriCymru: When did you first become interested in writing poetry? Where can readers go to find more of your work either online or in print?
Carole: I remember writing my first poem when I was 12 years old or so. From then on I would occasionally write poems, or song lyrics, but did not become serious about this sort of writing until the early 1990s. I had begun keeping journals on a regular basis and realized that I have an urge to write. I also read quite a bit, and began to realize how much I love the sounds of words, the musicality, rhythm, etc. I decided to take a few poetry workshops, and then later having finishing a BA in Liberal Studies, went on to earn an MFA in Creative Writing with a dual concentration in poetry and fiction.
To date I’ve published a few poems with university literary journals, and a few other independent online journals. Links to those poems, and a piece of flash fiction that has been published, can be found on my personal blog:
https://colourfieldsounding.wordpress.com/writing/
AmeriCymru: You also have an interest in art and fine art photography. Care to tell us more? Where can readers go to view your work online?
Carole: Yes, I have always had a strong interest in both art and photography for as long as I can remember. Interestingly, I find my love of composition, along with an innate appreciation for “images” and “ideas” connect within my involvement in both writing and visual kinds of things. Samples of some of my work are on Tumbler:
https://colourfieldsounding.wordpress.com/visual-art/
https://colourfieldsounding.wordpress.com/photography/
AmeriCymru: We note from your AmeriCymru profile that your ".....Welsh ancestral line can be traced back to Walerand de Monmouth, (b. 1165) who is my 25th great-grandfather!" Can you tell us a little more about your Welsh ancestry and genealogical researches?
Carole: A few years ago I became interested in learning more about my family history. At that point I only knew that I have English ancestry on my father’s side (back to the pilgrim ship captain Myles Standish), and Danish/Welsh on my mother’s side. Now with so much information on the internet, I was able to begin constructing a family tree. I have not been able to find much of a trail on my mother’s side yet, but on my father’s side, have been able to trace my ancestry way, way back, into the place where history becomes mythology, which is quite amazing!!! At any rate, I am directly related to Walerand de Monmouth, and to Nest ferch Rhys (24th great-grandmother), and would love to travel to Wales at some point and actually visit Monmouth Castle, an important border castle, and the birthplace of Henry V. I have discovered that many of my ancestors were from noble families, such as the de Neville’s (among others), and lived in castles that are still standing today. I’m also directly related to King Alfred, and Charlemagne, among a number of other notable historical figures. I’m especially interested in finding out more about the women in my geneology, and want to learn more about the people whose lives are not documented in the usual historical records. Within the past few years I’ve been able to travel to England a few times, and feel a very deep connection with that land. Now that I know more about my ancestry I really look forward to traveling there again at some point before too long, and visiting Wales and Ireland, since I now know that my ancestors lived there as well. I have much I want to research more deeply, and perhaps write about someday.
AmeriCymru: What's next for Carole Standish Mora?
Carole: I’m currently working on an MA/PhD in Depth Psychology with an emphasis in Jungian and Archetypal Studies, which requires lots of academic research and writing. I have worked in the web and graphic design field for a number of years, and for a few years taught English Composition. I loved teaching, am developing a couple of creative writing related workshops, and hope to return to teaching down the road. In the meantime, I continue to write poetry, and am working on some longer pieces of fiction, two of which might want to become novels.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?
Carole: The AmeriCymru site is a wonderful resource for everything Welsh! I especially appreciate the sense of a welcoming community, the special interest groups, competitions, a bookstore, courses and events. I really encourage readers to explore the site more deeply and become involved. Since I have been a member I have noticed lots of development on the site, and feel very glad to have become a member. I enjoy browsing the site from time to time and discovering new content. There is quite a bit of on going interaction on the site, and it feels good to connect more tangibly with my own roots, while also interacting with other people from Wales, or of Welsh ancestry. While technology sometimes brings about a sense of disconnection and distance, sites like AmyriCymru bring people together in wonderful and immediate ways. Thanks so much for the work you are doing to make this kind of community possible!
W e are pleased and proud to announce that the winner of the 2014 West Coast Eisteddfod Online Poetry Competition ( Carole Standish Mora ) will be afforded the opportunity to publish 10 of her poems in a chapbook which will be circulated with the Winter/Spring edition of the prestigious Seventh Quarry international poetry magazine. This is in addition to the $200 prize money and inclusion in our online 'Hall of Fame'.
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EXHIBITION EXAMINES THE COMPLEX POWER OF LANDSCAPE THROUGH MASTERPIECES FROM THE NATIONAL MUSEUM WALES
By AmeriCymru, 2016-02-10
Pastures Green & Dark Satanic Mills: The British Passion for Landscape
Saturday January 23 2016, 12:00 AM - Sunday April 24 2016
@ Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey
Click above link for event listing and more details
Pastures Green and Dark Satanic Mills: The British Passion for Landscape will be on view at the Princeton University Art Museum from Jan. 23 through Apr. 24, 2016 PRINCETON, N.J. – For centuries, artists have been fascinated by Britain’s changing landscape and the changing dialogue surrounding nature and culture, country and city, rolling hills and urban industry. Pastures Green and Dark Satanic Mills: The British Passion for Landscape follows the rise of British landscape painting, from the Industrial Revolution through 19th-century Romanticism and Impressionism, to 20th-century modernism and contemporary art.
The exhibition presents more than 60 masterpieces drawn from the remarkable collection of the National Museum Wales and offers powerful insights into the enduring role of landscape during this time of rapid change. Focusing on the period from 1770 to the present, the exhibition includes works by Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable, J.M. W. Turner, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Oskar Kokoschka, David Nash, and Stanley Spencer.
Pastures Green and Dark Satanic Mills will be on view at the Princeton University Art Museum from Jan. 23 through Apr. 24, 2016. The exhibition was co-curated by Tim Barringer, Paul Mellon Professor of the History of Art at Yale University, and Oliver Fairclough, Keeper of Art at the National Museum Wales, and was organized in collaboration with Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales.
“Bringing together painting, watercolor and photography, Pastures Green and Dark Satanic Mills invites us to consider why the landscape as subject has been so central to British art making and indeed to British national identity,” said James Steward, Nancy A. Nasher–David J. Haemisegger, Class of 1976, Director. “This compelling exhibition reveals the many ways in which artists developed new vocabularies to understand and respond to the world around them throughout the modern period.”
The British passion for landscape – already present in the literary works of Milton, Shakespeare and Chaucer – began to dominate the visual arts at the time of the Industrial Revolution. In his preface to Milton (ca. 1804-10), the poet William Blake wrote of both “England’s green and pleasant land” and the “dark satanic mills” of its new industrial cities. As Britain became the world’s first industrial nation in the late 18th century, cities– where the nation’s new wealth was generated and its population increasingly concentrated – mills and factories started to challenge country estates and rolling hills as the defining images of the nation. Artists tracked, recorded and resisted these changes, inaugurating a new era of British landscape painting which both celebrated the land’s natural beauty and a certain idea of Britain – one tied to the land itself – while also observing the feverish new energies of the modern world.
Loosely chronological, the exhibition begins with “Classical Visions and Picturesque Prospects,” looking back to the 17th-century origins of landscape painting through iconic works by Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa, canvases by the early British landscapists Thomas Gainsborough and Joseph Wright of Derby and the rise of watercolor as an increasingly valued artistic medium. “Turner and the Sublime” features major oil paintings – including The Storm (1840–45) and The Morning after the Wreck(ca. 1840) – and watercolors by the revered British artist who did so much to invent fundamentally new modes of painting. “Truth to Nature” focuses on artists’ direct and objective depictions of the natural world through works by John Constable and Stanley Spencer, among others. “Picturing Modernity” looks at the subsequent urban industrial transformation of Britain through representations by artists such as Lionel Walden and Oskar Kokoschka. Claude Monet’s visionary reflections of the Thames – The Pool of London (1871) and Charing Cross Bridge (1902) – during his seminal period in London are spotlighted in “Monet and Impressions of Britain.” Finally “Neo-Romantic to Post-Modern” considers the reemergence of traditional landscape subjects, inflected by modernism, the environmental movement and growing concern for the dark side of human impact on the natural world.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with essays by the curators and individual entries on each work of art as well as by extensive public programming, including a film series examining the power of landscape on film offered in partnership with the Princeton Garden Theatre. Pastures Green and Dark Satanic Mills: The British Passion for Landscape is organized by the American Federation of Arts and Amgueddfa Cymru–National Museum Wales. The exhibition tour and catalogue are generously supported by the JFM Foundation, Mrs. Donald M. Cox and the Marc Fitch Fund. In-kind support is provided by Barbara and Richard S. Lane and Christie’s. The exhibition at Princeton has been made possible by support from the Frances E. and Elias Wolf, Class of 1920, Fund; the National Endowment for the Arts; Christopher E. Olofson, Class of 1992; and Susan andJohn Diekman, Class of 1965. Additional support has been made possible by the Allen R.Adler, Class of 1967, Exhibitions Fund; the Judith and Anthony B. Evnin, Class of 1962,Exhibitions Fund; the Rita Allen Foundation; the New Jersey State Council on the Arts;Katherine P. Holden, M.D., Class of 1973, and Joshua S. Jaffe, M.D.; and the Friends ofthe Princeton University Art Museum.
About the Princeton University Art Museum
With a collecting history that extends back to the 1750s, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the leading university art museums in the country, with collections that have grown to include over 92,000 works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary art and spanning the globe.
Committed to advancing Princeton’s teaching and research missions, the Art Museum also serves as a gateway to the University for visitors from around the world. Intimate in scale yet expansive in scope, the Museum offers a respite from the rush of daily life, a revitalizing experience of extraordinary works of art and an opportunity to delve deeply into the study of art and culture.
The Princeton University Art Museum is located at the heart of the Princeton campus, a short walk from the shops and restaurants of Nassau Street. Admission is free. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.;Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays.
WHEN: February 17-21, 2016 WHERE: Kansas City, MO, USA
Plu - Folk Alliance International
Saturday February 20 2016, 10:00 AM
@ Pershing South Ballroom, Kansas City, MO
The Gentle Good - Folk Alliance International
Saturday February 20 2016, 7:15 PM
@ Roanoke Ballroom, Kansas City, MO
Lleuwen Steffan - Folk Alliance International
Saturday February 20 2016, 7:45 PM
@ Pershing East/West Ballroom, Kansas City, MO
Calan - Folk Alliance International
Saturday February 20 2016, 7:15 PM
@ Century C Ballroom, Kansas City, MO
About Folk Alliance International
AmeriCymru: How would you describe the Folk Alliance International event.? What is its mission statement?
Aengus: Folk Alliance is the world’s largest gathering of the folk, roots, world and traditional music community, bringing together artists, managers, agents, media, and presenters for 5 days of networking, professional development, and showcases.
Our year-round mission as a 501c3 is:
"...to nurture, engage and empower the international folk music community — traditional and contemporary, amateur and professional — through education, advocacy and performance."
AmeriCymru: What kind of audience figure does the event attract?
Aengus: About 2500 delegates attend from over 20 countries.
AmeriCymru: Do you think Wales has something unique to offer to a folk audience?
Aengus: Wales absolutely has something incredibly unique to offer in that there is a distinct musical tradition that has a very contemporary scene that is quite successfully preserving, promoting, and presenting a language and culture that is surrounded by others that could easily eclipse them, and yet music specifically has a power to curb the tide.
AmeriCymru: Are plans already in motion for next year's event?
Aengus: 2017 is well underway (in fact we’re negotiating our 2019 contract in Canada already). The theme for 2017 is Forbidden Folk, exploring the more political, socially conscious, and labor oriented role of folk music over the years.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Aengus: Folk music is alive and well, booming more than ever in fact, and we hope to welcome more artists, presenters, and fans of Welsh (and other) folk music at our future annual events.
Folk Alliance International website
( In previous years the Folk Aliance International event has featured Welsh folk artists including, amongst others Chris Jones and Martyn Joseph )
AmeriCymru: Hi Alison. What can you tell us about your forthcoming book 'The Salt Maker's Year"?
Alison: It's a book about a family business through a year. We've often been asked to talk about what business and personal paths led us to creating Halen Môn and so this is a great way to do it. It'll be anecdotes and stories which we hope will encourage others down the entrepreneurial route, plus seasonal recipes to make great feasts to share with family and friends, all brought together with sumptuous photographs of our beautiful Anglesey sea and landscape.
AmeriCymru: You are funding production of this title in an unusual way. Care to tell us more?
Alison: It's an interesting way of fund raising that we've chosen. We invite people to pledge in advance for the book- digital copies are just £10 and do not attract any postage fees- and when enough people decide they want the book to go ahead, we publish it. We're already working on the photos, recipes and stories, and have held 3 feasts to 'limber up' for the real events later this year. It lets us talk to the readers of the book and they can play a real part in how it develops, interacting with the authors in The Shed and receiving regular updates.
AmeriCymru: How can people support you and what rewards are you offering?
Alison: The base level of support is £10 for a digital download, rising to the star reward of a trip to Anglesey on an 'innovators' day' on branding a small business and lunch with David and Alison, the owners and founders of Halen Môn for £1,000 and lots of books and salty hampers in-between.
AmeriCymru: Who are the authors?
Alison: David and Alison Lea-Wilson, founders and directors of Halen Môn. Married and working together for over 35 years, this is the third successful business they've started and run.
AmeriCymru: Care to tell us a little about Halen Mon, its history and products?
Alison: It's a family business founded in 1997 to resuscitate the lost art of sea salt making on Anglesey- Môn Mam Cymru. It's grown from being made in a saucepan on the kitchen AGA to moving into its own purpose-built Saltcote with a visitor centre and behind the scenes tours. It can be found in 20 countries, including the USA where its oak smoked Halen Môn flavours the top of President Obama's favourite butter caramels from Fran's Chocolates in Seattle.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?
Alison: Take a look at the video and let us know how you can support us- and if you have any questions we'd love to hear from you. Better still, drop in for a panad and a slice of our local bara brith when you're next visiting the Principality. Diolch o galon.
.cymru and .wales are open to all marking a historic moment for Wales on the internet
By AmeriCymru, 2015-02-28
On 1 st March 2015 – St David’s Day - .cymru and .wales domain names will be available to everyone, on a first come, first serve basis, putting Wales squarely on the digital map.
Ieuan Evans MBE, Chair of the .cymru and .wales Advisory Group and former Wales rugby captain has welcomed the release of the domains and said, “These domains are about taking our Welsh passion, pride and provenance to the online world and as a consequence we all now have an opportunity both within Wales and around the world to do exactly that.
“I’m thrilled to finally be able to use my own .cymru and .wales web addresses and know that anyone with a connection with Wales will want to do the same and join me in making the web more Welsh.”
There is a growing online Welsh population - over 95% of people under 44 years old use the internet*. .cymru and .wales are a part of the biggest shake-up in the world of domains with the introduction of thousands of new top-level domain names and with Wales becoming one of the few countries to have two domain names. We’ve developed a unique approach especially for these domains, both .cymru and .wales will be bilingual and allow the registration of names with the diacritic marks used in the Welsh language.
The domain names have been on limited availability since September 2014 but from today, anyone who wants to show off their national pride and Welsh identity will be able to choose and buy their perfect website or email address through their domain provider. New research shows significant interest in Wales’ home online, with 65% of those questioned saying that they would want to highlight their Welsh connections through a dedicated .cymru or .wales domain name if they were launching a new personal or business website**.
The Welsh Government, S4C and the Welsh Rugby Union are all marking St David’s Day by switching on their new .cymru and .wales websites today. Many of Wales’ leading businesses, brands and organisations are already backing the new domains including the National Assembly, the Millennium Stadium, Sport Wales, the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, the Scarlets rugby team and the Arts Council for Wales.
Digwyddiad Hanesyddol i Gymru ar y Rhyngrwyd: .cymru a .wales ar gael i bawb
Ar 1af Fawrth 2015 – Dydd Gŵyl Dewi - fe fydd enwau parth .cymru a .wales ar gael i bawb ar sail gyntaf i’r felin, gan osod Cymru ar lwyfan ddigidol fyd-eang.
Mae Ieuan Evans MBE, Cadeirydd Grŵp Cynghori .cymru a .wales a chyn-gapten tîm rygbi Cymru wedi croesawu rhyddhad y parthau a dywedodd, “Bwriad y parthau hyn yw datgan ein hangerdd, balchder a’n gwreiddiau Cymreig i’r byd ar-lein ac o ganlyniad rydym nawr gyda’r cyfle i wneud hynny, yng Nghymru ac ar draws y byd.
“Rwy’n hynod falch fy mod o’r diwedd yn gallu defnyddio fy nghyfeiriadau we .cymru a .wales ac rwy’n gwybod bydd unrhyw un gyda chysylltiad â Chymru eisiau gwneud yr un peth ac ymuno a fi wrth i ni Gymreigio’r we.”
Mae yna boblogaeth Gymreig gynyddol ar-lein – mae dros 95% o bobl o dan 44 mlwydd oed yn defnyddio’r rhyngrwyd*. Mae .cymru a .wales yn rhan o’r newid mwyaf i fyd parthau gyda chyflwyniad miloedd o enwau parth lefel uchaf newydd a Chymru yw un o’r ychydig wledydd sydd gyda dau enw parth. Rydym wedi datblygu dull unigryw yn arbennig ar gyfer y parthau hyn; fe fydd .cymru a .wales yn ddwyieithog ac yn caniatáu cofrestriad enwau gydag acenion y Gymraeg.
Mae’r enwau parth wedi bod ar gael yn gyfyngedig ers Medi 2014 ond o heddiw ymlaen, fe fydd unrhyw un sydd eisiau dangos eu balchder cenedlaethol a’u hunaniaeth Gymreig yn gallu dewis y cyfeiriad we neu e-bost delfrydol trwy eu darparwr parthau. Mae ymchwil newydd yn dangos diddordeb sylweddol yng nghartref Cymru ar-lein, gyda 65% o’r rheiny a holwyd yn nodi eu bod eisiau amlygu eu cysylltiadau Cymreig gydag enw parth .cymru neu .wales os fydden nhw’n lansio gwefan personol neu fusnes newydd.**.
Mae Llywodraeth Cymru, S4C ac Undeb Rygbi Cymru i gyd yn dathlu Dydd Gŵyl dewi wrth lansio eu gwefannau .cymru a .wales newydd heddiw. Mae llawer o fusnesau, brandiau a sefydliadau blaenllaw Cymru eisoes yn cefnogi’r parthau newydd gan gynnwys Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru, Stadiwm y Mileniwm, Chwaraeon Cymru, Ffederasiwn Busnesau Bychain Cymru, tîm rygbi’r Scarlets a Chyngor Celfyddydau Cymru.
We are funding these productions by using Crowdfunding - we have a target of £2000 - I am approaching companies to make donations, but through Facebook, and other social media sites, I'm asking individuals to "Pledge a pound" that's a British £1 - which translates into $1. 54 American money. I'm using the Crowdfunding site "Wefund" - so if anyone here would like to donate £1 or its equivalent, I'd be very Grateful. The money raised from the three productions, would be re-invested into future productions, and the setting up of an Actors-writers workshop - It would be a place where writers could interact with actors, in a workshop situation, to create new works for the stage - Tent Of Xerxes would help develop the plays, to be produced in front of an audience, or as an audio podcast that people, worldwide, could listen to online.
Please Make a donation of just £1 (or its equivalent) at http://wefund.com/project/
You can find out more about us at our website www.tentofxerxes.com
or like our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/tentofxerxes
Tony Kendrew is an American poet of Welsh ancestry. In September 2012 he started an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Wales, Trinity St. David. The campus for the course is in the small town of Lampeter, site of the third oldest institute of higher education in Britain - after Oxford and Cambridge. AmeriCymru spoke to Tony about his work and future plans. Visit Tony Kendrew's website here
Tony: I would love to. I’ve been living in Northern California since the 80's. Each time I moved it was to a more remote and beautiful place, until ten years ago I found the valley I now call home. All of the places I lived inspired what I suppose we could call nature poetry, though the poems aren’t just descriptive, because I always seem to find a human story hidden in the rivers and forests and deserts. And I don’t mean that my poems tell the story of the people living in those places, but that the places themselves give rise to reflections about what it is to be human. We have been living on earth for a very long time, and I think the landscape is intimately connected with our thoughts and feelings. To give an obvious example, the river: constant but changeable, deep or bickering, “wider than a mile,” you can’t push it, and of course “you can’t step into the same river twice.” And it isn’t just landscape either: sudden encounters with plants and wildlife bring insights of their own. Our minds have been sculpted by nature.
About half the poems in 'Feathers Scattered in the Wind' were written in California. The other half come from Wales. They were my responses to my year living and learning and rambling in West Wales, on the Coastal Path, in the ruins of Strata Florida or the beaches of Ceredigion.
I am, I suppose most interested in the communication of awe. The collection has a number of poems that try to communicate that response to beauty and the ineffable, whether it’s nature, or the effect of a painting on the viewer or a piece of music on the listener.
AmeriCymru: In September 2012 you started an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Wales. What can you tell us about this experience?
Tony: Well, it was a wonderful experience! I fell into it by a stroke of serendipity, and knew immediately that the teaching style and the faculty at Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, were going to suit me just fine. The personal attention and intimacy of this small school made me feel cared for, and the sessions with poet Menna Elfyn and dramatist Dic Edwards, and regular visits from Wales’ best writers, meant that everything I wrote went under the microscope. Just what I needed! It was a lot of work, but that‘s exactly what I was there for.
AmeriCymru: The poems on your Turning CD focus on the themes of migration and identity. What inspired this collection? Tony: My mother was Welsh and went to China as a teacher in her late twenties. There she met and married my English father. So not only did I have to figure out where I came from, but my options were on the other side of the world!
The themes of movement and identity have concerned me all my life, and my year at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David brought them into focus like never before. So I decided to write as my MA dissertation a series of poems that reflect on the urge to migrate and explore, how that urge was expressed in my own family and life, and how it relates to a sense of place and belonging. There are twenty-two poems, and they take two directions, one towards the history of the Welsh side of my family, arranged chronologically, the other towards the nature of nationality and diaspor a in general.
A number of poems tell the stories of particular members of the Welsh side of my family, trying to capture some of the characteristics of Welshness with illustrations of the delights and tragedies of family and emigration. I also touch on the influence of my cultural and genetic heritage on my own life and work.
And though the Welsh word hiraeth does not appear in these English language poems, we could say that the collection is really an exploration of hiraeth in poetic form.
AmeriCymru: Care to tell us a little about your anthology 'Seven Views of the South Fork River'?
Tony: The South Fork of the Trinity River runs past the bottom of my property and has been my muse for the last ten years. It’s designation as a wild and scenic river means it goes up when it rains and goes down when it doesn’t – something that dams and reservoirs have hidden from the experience of a large part of the population. It is an awesome sight to watch the river rise and spread out across the valley. Some years ago I decided to sing the river’s praises with a group of poems describing places along its course. This became 'Seven Views of the South Fork River', which is embedded in the printed collection 'Feathers Scattered in the Wind'. The poems talk about the river in a blatantly metaphorical way!
AmeriCymru: What's next for Tony Kendrew?
Tony: I am currently on the editorial board of The Lampeter Review, the online magazine of the University of Wales Trinity St. David's Creative Writing Centre. It’s terrific to be at the receiving end of great writing and to be in touch with the other editors on the production of the magazine. I also write a regular piece for the magazine, a sort of letter from America, that gives a personal view of the issue’s theme or a literary topic that’s caught my eye.
I hope 'Feathers Scattered in the Wind' will find a US publisher, as I think it has roots on both sides of the Atlantic and wish we didn’t have to get it shipped from the UK. And I’d like to see the poems of the CD Turning in print too. I love to hear poets reading their work, but many people prefer to snuggle down with a book of poems than hear them read out loud.
AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of Americymru?
Tony: I’m delighted to be able to meet with other Welsh Americans via Americymru. As a writer I’ve been a bit of a hermit, so it’s heartening to see these connections being made through that difficult to define something that is our shared Welshness. And with March 1st coming up I’d like to wish everyone a very happy St. David’s Day. Cymru am Byth.
POEMS FROM 'TURNING'
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Pant y Hirion, 1876 ... Is there a way to bridge the years now the forest has darkened the mountain and covered the mineshafts now a wrought-iron gate makes us back up half way to the road? ... The view is much the same northwest down the Rheidol to Aberystwyth. Somebody built right here for that view - must have loved the summer sunsets over the Lleyn. ... What made you leave this place? Send your wife to her mother with your children? And what did you tell them when you left for Liverpool? God be with you? Look after yourselves? See you in a few years? ... Who knows now? Those conversations took off with the wind over Llanafan and never came back. ... Someone might remember the accident with the steam engine the cheap foreign lead the drift to the cities the cough. ... But that's not enough for me. I want to lean on that gate look in your eyes and ask what took you away? ''' What longing in your poet soul sent you wandering? Was strong enough to override your chapel interdictions a life of lessons in duty in provision in fatherhood? ''' Or did the meetings merely aspirate your lungs give service to your lips? ... William Richards stonemason they called you so you would have known about building. Did you never make the connection between building and fatherhood between abandonment and decay? ''' You left us letters and notebooks full of poems brimming with guilt that urged God's message to the needy and gave surrogate succour while the infants dwindled in their bowls and in your prodigal conscience. |
Leaving ... We have all left some clean some not so clean some so strong there is no justification and we override the rules and ride the consequences down the rapids of remorse. ...
How many words does it take to heal? How many years? How many deaths? ... And who returns? A few to town, some into the hills some never with no glance back - call it ruthless call it heartless call it iron cold they settle their land and reap their honest corn. ... How many moons does it take to forgive? How much forgetting? How many strikes of the plough? |
