Afonydd: Poems for Welsh Rivers / Cerddi Afonydd Cymru

by Sian Northey (Editor), Ness Owen (Editor)

Genres: Poetry

114 pages, Paperback

Published May 29, 2025

Reviews

[McKinley Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of poems (each in Welsh and English) reminding readers that rivers, while constantly on the move, are still constant in their presence and ability to define a land and people.

[Ewan Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rivers and poems make a perfect match, all movement and flow, but with a wider existence beyond dimension and meaning. More importantly, with both you’re free to simply lounge around and enjoy them for what they are.

‘Afonydd’ is an anthology of work by Welsh poets striving to do the impossible by expressing the being of rivers in words. The nature of the task sends the poets in wild and improbable directions. Grahame Davies channels some ancient druid as he celebrates unnamed rivers high up in the Welsh hills, “I invoke them all: / these overlooked companions of the hill / that make their way where only curlews call” – “fe ddathlaf nhw i gyd, / cynheiliaid anghofiedig pant a glyn, / sy'n gweu eu ffordd ymhell o sylw'r byd”. Each poem comes in both Welsh and English and, in this first poem of the anthology, Davies sets a standard. For these are brave translations which often travel far from the literal in capturing essence.

The sensuality of Mari George’s paean to Afon Ogwr / the River Ogmore is breathtaking. “What more do boys desire at fifteen / than to plunge just like salmon one by one / into her depth and beauty” – “Does dim byd gwell gan fechgyn pymtheg oed / na phlymio fel eogiaid i'w dŵr oer / a hongian fel crehyrod bach o'i choed”. Oh the urge to plunge…

With gorgeous skill, Natalie Ann Holborow shapes the unlikeliest of similes in her poem about the shore mares of Afon Lliw / the River Lliw. “A mare heaves, muscled and slow, / raising her neck into a practised stretch / like an oystercatcher surfacing for breath.” – “Mae yna gaseg yn ymdrechu, yn gyhyrog ac yn araf, / gan godi ei gwddf ac ymestyn o hir arfer / fel pioden y môr yn dod i’r wyneb i anadlu.” This poem was translated into Welsh by Sian Northey who is joint editor of the anthology along with Ness Owen. Some poems were translated by the authors themselves. Others were translated by Northey, Owen, Siôn Aled and Emma Baines. All did an outstanding job. The poems, side by side in their two versions, feel as if they are in continuous conversation with themselves. Such an intriguing experience.

For me, the most satisfying poem to read out loud is Taz Rahman’s piece inspired by Afon Elwy / the River Elwy. “nymphs fawn / the fruiting body / fermenting barnacles / gardens fold sparrows / for endless / chides in barren lyres of conjugal / loins consummate rites / in the smallest / cathedral liturgy / ensigns hang lords” – “nymffau’n ymgreinio / y corff hadol / gwyrain yn eplesu / gerddi’n cofleidio adar y to / ar gyfer diddiwedd / gerydd lyrâu hesbin / llwynau priodasol yn cyflawni eu defodau / yn litwrgïau’r / gadeirlan leiaf arglwyddi ynghrog ar lumanau”. A tumble of words rushing past with a glistening freshness and beauty that your mind scrambles to capture.

I loved Zohrah Evans’s ‘Mayfly over the River Cegin’ / ‘Gwybed Mai dros Afon Cegin’ and its sense of a delirious grasping at life. “With shimmering wings, / millions of sequinned dancers / fill their fleeting lives / with pirouettes, arabesques, / spirals and swirls” – “Gydag adenydd pelydrol, / miliynau o ddawnswyr pefriol / yn llenwi eu bywydau byrhoedlog / â pirouettes, arabesques, / yn troelli a chwyrlïo”.

I cheered in agreement at Meleri Davies’s depiction of how we humans form our own stories through our relationships with bodies of water. “And I dive, bold as a spear / through your flowerbed foam / into the murky hollow of our past” – “Mae’r ewyn yn borth petalau yn aros amdanaf / wrth i ‘nghorff blymio yn waywffon eofn / i ddyfnder yr afon gyfarwydd hon.”

I adored reading… oh pfft… I loved this whole anthology. Dive into it; you’ll come out dripping wet and shivering.

[Hannah Trower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous collection of modern poems about rivers (of many sizes, and including those without names) in Wales. Facing page with each poem represented in both languages, which page is which changing depending on which is the original of which poem. Bubbly and textural like a babbling brook, with a distinct goal of conservationism and environmentalism based on the love each poet bears for their river. You could cut the hiraeth with a spoon!

[Owain Glyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Casgliad hardd o gerddi am afonydd Cymru.
Mae cael fersiwn Cymraeg a Saesneg ochr wrth ochr yn ffordd wych o sicrhau amrywiaeth o leisiau a ffurf.