Poems of Wales' waterways

Following the success of its anthology of poems about the A470, Arachne Press has published a new Welsh/English anthology focusing on Welsh rivers. The book's editors told Jenny White why it's needed now

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A MEDITATIVE meander through the rivers of Wales, Afonydd: Poems for Welsh Rivers brings together 50 poems by poets from every corner of Wales, with each one printed in both Welsh and English.

As shifting and reflective as the waters it evokes, the book ranges from forgotten tributaries to wide-mouthed estuaries, and from folklore to industry, addressing ecological concerns, personal memories, love, loss and more.

It contains many memorable lines and images. In Desire by Mari George, the River Ogmore dances, polishing the stones, and boys plunge into her depths before basking "like herons by her side in warming sun".

In Siôn Aled's deceptively simple meditation on Pulford Brook - a forgotten boundary water close to the mighty Dee, we are reminded that "beyond maps, there's many a place where the border is fragile as two worlds embrace".

The collection also offers some stunning evocations of place: Natalie Ann Holborow, for instance, conjures the liminal landscape of the River Lliw, where, "tucked between samphire and limestone/ponies drag their heft up the saltmarsh", while Matthew M C Smith's poem about Bishopston Pill weaves legends of St Teilo, who "banished the cave-witch and saw boon pirates perish" with vivid sensory images of slaking thirst by "palming blade-cold gold water coins".

The breadth of the work reflects a carefully balanced editorial process, which began with an open call. Ness Owen, a bilingual poet and playwright who co-edited the book with writer, translator and editor Sian Northey, says the open call was essential to both this and their previous anthology of work by Welsh poets, A470:Poems for the Road/Cerddi'r Ffordd.