It was a particular pleasure to launch my collection, ‘STAR: poems for the Christmas Season’ at Canton library because it’s my local library in Cardiff. And even more special because some of the poems in the book are set in nearby streets. Plus, I’m honoured to be Author of the Month for Libraries Wales https://libraries.wales/aotm/angela-graham-2
Libraries have been crucial to my development as a person and as a writer. My family couldn’t afford to buy books but the local library and Belfast’s Central Library enabled me to read widely. This is a kind of nourishment and without it my childhood and adolescence would have been stinted and stunted. It’s also, by a kind of osmosis, a lesson in the benefits of sharing resources.
I had the pleasure of doing readings and workshops with ‘STAR’ in 8 libraries in Northern Ireland and, just as here in Wales, that experience showed me time and again how a library sustains a locality.
Librarians deal in more than books. They are sources of information, support and encouragement and, crucially, they help people to help each other through many kinds of groups. Everywhere I sensed the loyalty and affection people feel for their libraries.
Launching ‘STAR’ in Canton Library, Cardiff
At every event people have enjoyed the images I present along with the poems. Martin Erspamer’s 15 beautiful linocuts in the book are always admired. And everyone likes the cover! I also show art works that relate to poems.
The local MP, Alex Barros-Curtis came along, so maybe ‘STAR’ will make it to Westminster!
Cardiff West MP Alex Barros-Curtis at Canton Christmas Fair
And Ward Councillor, Susan Elsmore came to the launch.
Canton Christmas Fair getting underway
I love presenting my work at events like this one because it is a wonderful way both to meet people and to see and feel how the poems are affecting those who listen to them.
I’m grateful to the very helpful and welcoming staff at Canton Library and to Libraries Wales.
Canton Library is a Carnegie building, opened in 1907, and is Grade II listed. I took the photo below when some stalls had packed up and things were quietening down. There’s such a feeling of spaciousness and light.
Every day from Monday 16th December till Tuesday 24th December, Christmas Eve, I’ll read a poem on BBC Radio Ulster’s drivetime programme, ‘Evening Extra’.
A bold idea, mixing headlines, weather reports and poetry!
The poems are from my collection, ‘STAR: poems for the Christmas Season’ (Culture and Democracy Press). STAR is available from No Alibis, Belfast; The Secret Bookshelf, Carrickfergus; Little Acorns, Derry or any bookstore. Online up to last posting dates from The Books Council of Wales gwales.com https://tinyurl.com/37f4rruj. ARTWORK copyright Martin Erspamer.
“Is there anything left to say about Christmas?” exclaimed a fellow writer (not unkindly) when I mentioned that it is the theme of my new book. I was taken aback because it had never occurred to me that this particular challenge existed. My reply was, “Once I started writing I couldn’t stop.”
Responses to the book have shown me that readers are indeed surprised to find in it things that they consider novel or surprising. If I’d been aiming for novelty I’m pretty sure it would have eluded me. The book was prompted, in fact, by something that is more than nine hundred years old; something I’ve seen only in a photograph.
In the twelfth century, Gislebertus, the stonemason/architect of the cathedral at Autun in the heart of France, took advantage of the flat surfaces of the capitals on some of the pillars supporting the building to carve scenes from the bible, including aspects of the Christmas story. The journey of the ‘wise men from the East’(or kings, or magi) took his fancy. He must have asked himself how their story began. How did the notion of following a star to search for ‘the infant king of the Jews’ come to them? He himself had imagined a whole cathedral into being. Perhaps he had explored the genesis of that extraordinary journey of his own.
He depicts that instant of inspiration by placing The Three Kings in bed together. Two are asleep but one has been prodded into consciousness by the finger of an angel. The awakening king has opened only one eye. He hasn’t yet turned to see that the angel is also pointing to a star. As a result of his choosing this moment just before the ‘action’ begins, it’s we who supply what happens next – the groggy coming-to; the search for what has disturbed him; the sight of the wonderful star; the excited rousing of his companions …
Each of us creates within us a unique set of images in response to this one piece of art; each of us has a dialogue with the elements of the story on, and in, our own terms. Our inner world is affected – in my case it has resulted in a poem, and then a book, prompted by that depiction of the moment before the ‘big moment’.
AUTUN CATHEDRAL, MAGI
Does the sky have tent-poles?
And some cathedrals are forested.
God walks in their depths on a December afternoon
while the topmost branches brush the undersides
of planets fixed mid-orbit
– those stained-glass windows fruiting overhead.
Here no one thinks of weight, of downwardness
and how the roof desires it.
God pauses among the pillars
at a carved capital that always lifts his heart:
an artist like himself, from this blunt-cornered oblong stone,
gives us a bird’s view of a bed
draped in a ruched counterpane, three kings tucked in,
but the eyes of one, popped open, register
Why? Who? still unaware
of the angel at his shoulder, stroking his hand,
whose other index finger points at a star.
God sighs, at the weight borne by the moment
after such a moment; at how he waits
for a man to look up at the sky
and recognise and seize
the chance of joy.
I am in awe of the confidence with which Gislebertus takes control of an awkwardly shaped, trapezoid stone facet. He breaks its confines by placing the star both inside and outside the ‘frame ‘ of the piece of stone. He exploits difficulty, turning a blank surface into something beautiful. Isn’t this what writers try to do? I allowed myself to follow his method, to imagine other moments in the story of The Three Kings.
Two aspects of the story struck me particularly: who do they leave behind when they set out on their journey westward and why do they seem so politically naïve?
From the first question came my conception of The Three Queens. Couldn’t there have been women involved in this quest? At the heart of the book is a set of six long poems: one for each of the queens, giving a glimpse into their experience and perceptions; and one for each king, so that the six poems play off each other in terms of content and character.
Secondly, I allowed myself to pull at a thread in the Gospel account (Matthew’s) that has long bothered me. The Kings arrive at Jerusalem, go straight to the palace and expect the incumbent to be pleased that a potential rival has been born. Shouldn’t they have had a plan for coping if he turned out to be eager to get rid of the child? They mis-read the local political scene completely and they endanger everyone they meet.
The Christmas story is shot through with elements we easily recognise: political expediency of a murderous kind and a topsy-turveying of people on the fringes of society and those on its heights. There is violence and exile, heartless exploitation and selfishness here. So you’ll find in the book poems about climate change, refugees, the suppression of women and other aspects of what I call ‘the dark hinterland’ of Christmas.
It is this grounding in the cold realities of life that gives Christmas, for me, its authenticity. The story is one about love and what it costs and what it offers, or even guarantees. It’s not about mere sentiment.
For these reasons I find Christmas an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
Above image, artwork copyright Martin Erspamer
In designing the book I very much hoped to have Gislebertus’s Awakening of the Magi as the cover image. I am thrilled to have Martin Erspamer’s wonderful linocut version and, even more so, to have fifteen of his sensitive images alongside the poems. I especially like what I think of (to myself) as the Awakening of the Family, a sort of companion-piece to the Autun work. It depicts Jospeh, Mary and the baby asleep in a bed just like that of Gislebertus, with the same angel poking Joseph but pointing westward, towards exile.
I have also used this book, my metaphorical block of stone, as a space in which to bring together some of the tongues of the British Isles. You’ll find a poem here in Ulster-Scots, and a little Irish, Welsh and Scots. It’s a small canvas but then a manger is small too.
STAR: poems for the Christmas Season was published August 2024 by Culture And Democracy Press. £10 ISBN 978-1-0686946-0-8
Here are 32 poems with 15 wonderful linocuts by Martin Erspamer.
Once I started to write about Christmas I couldn’t stop. Far from being a schmaltz fest, I find Christmas to be pulsing with clear-eyed realism. It’s a story of fragility amidst tough circumstances; of people on the edges being brought right into the heart of things; of political ruthlessness and high-minded, clumsy idealism; of flight and terror, as well as peace and joy.
The Three Kings arrive in glamour but they depart in fear and secrecy. Who was waiting for their return, I wondered? Their wives, perhaps. I’ve discovered for these women a presence and charted their influence. The Three Kings and Three Queens are at the heart of the book. We meet them having travelled through the bright lights of the season and we go on into ‘the dark hinterland of Christmas’ of treachery and exile, but hope has survived in the form of a child.
The cover image is Martin Erspamer’s take on a carving I love. In the 12th century, the mason/architect of Autun Cathedral, known as Gislebertus, took the capitals of some of the pillars supporting the Cathedral roof as opportunities to explore the Christmas story (and other biblicial tales). In his ‘The Awakening of the Magi’ Gislebertus imagined a point further back than the gospels record, the moment before the moment when for the very first time one of the Three Kings saw the star that would lead them to Bethlehem.
I regret I have no copyright details for this image
With wonderful ingenuity, he depicts the three kings in bed, asleep while the star blazes outside. Except that one king has responded to the prodding finger of an angel. He has opened one eye but not yet turned to look.
Gislebertus exploits here the extraordinarily fertile moment before the key action begins. The very threshold of the point of change. In Martin Erspamer’s beautiful linocut I found the ideal cover for this collection.
ISBN 978-1-0686946-0-8 • 22 August 2024 • Pback • Poetry • £10.00
It was a great pleasure to be interviewed by writer, Anne McMaster for DoubleBand Films’ hour-long documentary ‘Out Of The Silence’, directed by Jane Magowan and produced by Jonathan Golden. It explores women writing today, and in the past, in Ulster-Scots.
Anne and the crew came recorded me at home in Ballycastle where I delivered my poem, ‘A Heerd Tha Sodjer On Tha Radio’. This poem originated in my kitchen and is set there so what better place to do it?
Wendy Erskine, Dawn Watson and Jan Carson also feature in the documentary. The work of the late Frances Molloy was a discovery for me, prompted by the recording. Her novel, ‘No Mate For The Magpie’ (1985) and short story collection, ‘Women Are The Scourge Of The Earth’ (1989) are memorable, visceral and inventive. As was that of the acerbic, eighteenth-century writer, Olivia Elder.
Anne McMaster’s latest book, ‘Martha And The Vardo’ is out recently. Available from [email protected].
During Wales in London Week, around St David’s Day, there’s a celebration of the significant contribution to London of Welsh culture. On February 29th WalesPENCymru held a poetry reading and music event at The Poetry Society’s Poetry Cafe to mark the organisation’s thenth anniversary. The theme was ‘Wales as a Multilingual Country’.
The Wales branch of PEN is one of the largest in terms of membership. It is affiliated to PEN International.
PEN promotes literature and defends freedom of expression. It campaigns on behalf of writers around the world who are persecuted, imprisoned, harassed and attacked for what they have written. It has committees representing writers in prison, translation and linguistic rights, women writers and a peace committee.
A glance at WalesPENCymru’s website shows the range of events and campaigns that run throughout the year http://walespencymru.org/ They are all designed to support the freedom to speak of writers and journalists worldwide and also in Wales and the UK.
I was invited to read my poem, ‘Colony’ which is about what happens to language in the process of colonisation and I wrote a new poem for the event, ‘Wales/Cymru’.
At the London event we listened to the National Poet of Wales, Hanan Issa (below). And to Wales PEN Cymru’s president, the renowned Welsh poet, Menna Elfyn.
The Turkish writer Mehmet Ali Alabora spoke about living in Wales and the importance of the Welsh language.
The Kurdish musician, Ali Zeynel (below) played and sang in his minority language and then gave us the Welsh folksong, ‘Dacw ‘nghariad i lawr yn y berllan’.
In my collection, Sanctuary https://www.serenbooks.com/book/sanctuary-there-must-be-somewhere/ I have a poem written for Letter With Wings, an Irish PEN campaign for the release of the unjustly imprisoned jounalist, Nedim Turfent. Thankfully he was released in Novemeber 2022, after 6 years in prison.
It has been a great pleasure to guest-edit the Arts section of issue 492 of Fortnight.
The politics, social affairs and arts magazine launched in Northern Ireland in 1970. Throughout the Troubles and beyond it was an essential forum for discussion and evaluation. Fortnight re-launched in 2020.
Out today, 15th January.
Subscribe The cost of four copies during the year will be £25 (UK) and £35 (EU & World) Please send your payment direct to the Fortnight Publications account at the Ulster Bank, Belfast City 1 sort code: 98-00-60; acct no: 13078431 BIC: ULSB GB2B; IBAN: GB15 ULSB 9800 6013 0784 31 You must also send details of your postal address to [email protected]
To order a copy The cost of individual copies direct from No Alibis 83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast BT7 1JL will be £7 click & collect or £7 plus UK/EU postage Order direct from https://noalibis.com/ £7 click and collect or £7 plus postage; or 4 issues per year to Fortnight Publications, Ulster Bank Belfast City 1; 98-00-60; 13078431/ BIC:ULSB GB2B; IBAN: GB15 ULSB 9800 6013 0784 31 fortnight50th@gmail
We are living at a time when, through the media, we see power being wielded ruthlessly. We witness the destruction caused by war and by wayward market forces. Often the two are linked. There’s so much conflict happening that the news can hardly keep up with it. It can feel overwhelming.
The 2023 Reuters Institute digital news report states that close to 36% of news consumers say they avoid news, often or sometimes. To some extent this is prompted by concern to protect mental health. We need accurate and trustworthy news but its frequency and pervasiveness across platforms can lead to feelings of helplessness – knowing so much; able to do so little.
And some interests will encourage us to stay passive; to undervalue the good we can do; to leave politics to the powerful; to neglect the power of compassion, generosity, solidarity. I try to describe that cynical outlook in this short poem:
DECEMBER 28th
After Christmas – always – Childermas: Slaughter of Innocents; Threat Neutralised.
The Prince of War, glistening with success, allures us.
This, he says, is what you want. Not a stable, sheep-herding losers, a star.
