I was delighted to read  from my poetry collection at arts space, The Green Room above Sustainable Wales’s colourful, intriguing shop, SUSSED Wales. This is an ethical community co-operative selling fair trade local and international goods in James Street, Porthcawl.  Commitment to a just food policy is a major focus. What better time than the start of

https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get-involved/current-campaigns/fairtrade-fortnight/

A special dinner will be held at Porthcawl’s Atlantic Hotel to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sustainable Wales. 8th March. Tickets here.

A visionary enterprise, Sustainable Wales has been promoting a viable future for us all for a quarter of a century. It was co-founded by Robert Minhinnick and Margaret Minhinnick who have been exemplary in their commitment to analysis and action.

One part of their work is the promotion of good writing. Robert is one of Wales’s best-known poets and writers and a former editor of Poetry Wales.

The theme for the evening was Justice. Robert Minhinnick launched it with a poem of his own prompted by Gwell Angau na Chywilydd (Better Death than Dishonour).

I read from Sanctuary: There Must Be Somewhere. This particular context opened my eyes to the presence of the theme of justice in the collection. The need for sanctuary often arises from a situation of injustice but I hadn’t seen that so clearly before this. It’s an insight that I know will help me understand better what I’ve written.

In my experience, what one writes is always revealing itself, even after a piece has apparently been finished. We don’t immediately see the depths in what we write. Perhaps we are always operating at unconsicous as well as conscious levels.

Phil Cope read his poem: Another Lake, Another Land which is one of four poems co-written with me by poets who have  expertise in an aspect of sanctuary.

It was also a pleasure to hear, from poet Gerry Webber, some of his delicate poems set in Hensol Hospital and to meet poet, Laura Wainwright whose debut collection is

https://greenbottlepress.com/product/air-and-armour-by-laura-wainwright/

And we saw some visual poems made by repeatedly re-interpreting visual coding. I can’t describe it better than that! Has to be seen.