to americymru poetry comp 2012

Siglo'r Babi Bach

I hold him close,

His weight, heavy as a feather,

Nestled in a silken gown

Hand-me-down lullabies

Darned flannel blankets.

A blue skein and

Veins unravel. Auntie Mali,

Ninety three, threading needles

Recharging batteries on the 'pentan',

Her head alive in the 'News of the World'.

'Bara caws' for 'brecwast'

When I was a girl'

Mamgu in her 'fedog'

Baked the bread on Friday,

Dipped eachchild in melted sunlight,

Buckets brimming from the well.

Henry in South Africa,

Buttoned his dreams in a three-piece-suit.

Often, when the wind was cruel

Mamgu heard him in the shining darkness

Calling out her name.

Catherine, the 'new woman'

Rode her bike to London,

Wore a boater and man's tie,

Sharpened her tongue

On the anvil of language

'Miss Davies, Latin',

Carmarthen High.

Auntie Hannah never strayed.

Mamgu kept her for her own,

Tweezing fluff balls from the rowan

Placing pom-pom dahlias on the grave.

He stirs inside my arms.

'When you were little

What was your name?'

I hold him close,

This child who is and isn't mine.