It is described in various ways as a snake, a zipper, a ribbon, a scar, a Welsh version of Route 66. Memories, myths and moments of love and pain are woven into a collection of poems celebrating an unusual theme. : the A470 road linking north and south Wales.
While the theme may seem un promising, the A470: Poems for the Road / Cerddi’r Ffordd collection has been popular with critics and readers and has been reprinted twice since its release on St. David’s in March.
Sian Northey, who co-edited the volume, had the idea of asking people to write, in Welsh or English, a poem about the road, which stretches 186 miles from Cardiff in the south to Llandudno in the north, crossing cities. , villages, mountains and valleys.
The selected poems were translated and printed side by side in both languages. Hundreds of people submitted contributions (about a third in Welsh) to the publisher, Arachne Press, and 51 were chosen.
Northey said the A470 was a good topic because most Welsh people had some sort of opinion, good or bad, of the road. “People who travel it regularly tend to curse it, while those who use it less often have more affectionate feelings,” he said.
His own poem, Rhyw Bedair Awr (About Four Hours), suggests that the path – with “all the twists / the occasional red star” – transforms the traveler into another person.
Northey said it was important for the book to be bilingual. “There is a tendency for the literary scene in Wales to be divided between the Welsh language or English. It’s nice when they can get together. “
Publishers and editors were delighted by the variety of poems. There are many descriptions of mountains and rivers, references to the seashore, slate quarries, birds of prey and fighter jets. A poem recalls how children used to make Welsh people beat them with the director’s cane.
Tribute is paid to a little chef from Builth Wells, the Llandudno goats who took over during the first confinement and, in a so-called Llawlyfr Mam and Pit Stops Cymru (Mam’s Guide to Wales Stops), the best places for a rest from the toilet.
Stephen Payne, poet and scholar, presented a poem about the Pontypridd Museum, just a few feet from the road. For him the road means trips to the Brecon Beacons and the Hay festival, a feeling of escape. He said he traveled through a “remarkably virgin” country, linking north and south in a way that the tortuous rail journey could not. “It’s a good image for the unity of Wales,” he said.
Adequately, the volume has been underway, with poets reading his work everywhere, including at the prestigious National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.
Storyville Books in Pontypridd did a reading of some of the poems, where Jeff Baxter, co-owner of the store, said they had clearly captured the imagination. “The event was a lot of fun, with some obvious emotional strength and a real flow between the poets and the audience, especially moving naturally between English and Welsh, the two languages of Wales .
“Everyone who has lived along the route has such vivid memories and emotions tied to the road. If you live near the South Wales Valley section, for example, you can hear the road in the background almost constantly, always present. To me personally, it means I’m almost home when you turn off the M4 on the A470. “