Poetry
Arfogi
Te diogel wrth benelin,
tap i’r app, a sgrôlio’r sgrîn
yn bored...
… hyd nes canfod cae
sy’n un haid o hashnodau
gwaedlyd y gad, o lid gwâr;
troediaf Bwll Melyn Trydar.
A’r we yn Bont Orewyn,
yn y feedmae gwayw-ffyn,
rhennir o frwydr yr heniaith
rat-at yr @ dros yr iaith,
maes y gad ydi’r memes gwell,
lleddir gydag allweddell.
Yna caf gan lu cyfoes
darian o likes drwy ein loes,
pwytho, er mwyn cario’r cae,
â nodwydd ein hashnodau,
troi can bawd yn gatrawd gall ...
Te oer. Mi wna’i bot arall.
It feels as if there is some new assault on Wales and the Welsh every day, from political decisions (renaming the Severn Bridge, refusing to finance the Swansea tidal lagoon) to racist comments. Each time, an army of people on Twitter rushes into the breach and it feels like we win one battle, only to be immediately forced to arm ourselves again the next. As Tony Benn noted once (in another context!) perhaps there is no final victory! The cywydd was first broadcast on the Talwrn y Beirdd radio programme and it won the Dic Jones prize for the best ‘cywydd’ of the series.
Plastig
Gwelwn, os cloddiwn i’r clai – dan foryd
ein hyfory difai,
y boddwyd, man lle byddai,
heulwen traeth dan ôl ein trai.
Plastic pollution in rivers and seas is one of the largest environmental issues of our generation. Many talk about plastic pollution as one of the indicators of the Anthropocene - the proposed new geological epoch. When future geologists come to look at the geological record, what traces of our age will they see? The englyn was first broadcast on the Talwrn y Beirdd radio program
Cadoediad
Cilgant marmor yw ’fory yn heulwen
Dulyn, lle mae’r deildy
eglwysig eto’n glasu.
Canmlwyddiant yn gilgant i gyd, yn lân
dan oleuni hefyd,
enwau bach yng ngŵydd y byd.
Dihirod yn cydorwedd ag arwyr
ar garreg gyfannedd,
heulwen byw ar filiwn bedd.
Ond mor wyrdd, mor wyrdd yw’r harddwch – gwyrddach
na gardd yn ei heddwch,
rhesi ar resi’n ddryswch,
yn gur, yn feini gerwin ar ei hyd,
er i’r haul mawr feithrin
ffydd anufudd Glasnevin.
I've been fortunate enough to spend a week in Dublin every Easter (almost!) since I started lecturing, leading a fieldtrip to the city and to the Wicklow Mountains. This year, for the first time, we went to Glasnevin cemetery, where the heroes of the Easter Rising were buried alongside many other leading figures in the nation’s history. A new, crescent-shaped monument was erected mark the centenary of the Rising in 2017, noting the names of all who died - revolutionaries, British soldiers and civilians. It was a controversial decision that showed some of the tensions that exist in Ireland today.The englynion were first broadcast on Talwrn y Beirdd radio program.
