Gillian Clarke's poems are letters from the far countries of personal and ancestral memories, of places and moments of insight. Her acclaimed title poem explores the buried histories of women's lives, the enduring responsibilities that link generations and ensure the continuance of language and traditions. Rooted in rural Wales, Letter from a Far Country celebrates the sources of strength and continuity that bind people to landscape and community.

'Clarke's poetry...gives voice to the unexpressed emotions and experiences of women over the centuries...this, together with the way in which her Welshness is such an integral part of her sensibility and her poetry helps to make Gillian Clarke one of our most important contemporary writers' - New Welsh Review

'Clarke's work is both personal and archetypal, built out of language as concrete as it is musical.' - Anne Stevenson, Times Literary Supplement

'Clarke...reminds us that simply expressed facts can sometimes shine more memorably than fireworks.' - Carol Rumens, The Independent

Contents

Letter from a Far Country 7
Miracle on St. David’s Day 19
Insomnia 21
Chalk Pebble 22
Sunday 23
East Moors 24
Scything 25
Bluetit and Wren 26
Ll^yr 27
Blodeuwedd 29
Siege 30
Cardiff Elms 32
The Water Diviner 33
Hay-Making 34
Harvest 35
Friesian Bull 36
Jac Codi Baw 37
Taid’s Funeral 38
White Roses 39
Pendzhikent 40
Login 41
Blodeuyn 42
Death of a Cat 43
Sheila na Gig at Kilpeck 44
Plums 45
Balsam 46
Buzzard 47
Ram 48
From Clarence Bridge, Newport 49
Heron at Port Talbot 50
Mrs Frost 51
Ice Queen 52
Suicide on Pentwyn Bridge 53
Welsh Blacks 54
On Rhiwbina Hill 55
Shadows in Llanbadarn 56
A Journal from France
    September 9th 57
    The Village 58
    La Cirque de Paris 58
    Seamstress at St. Léon 59
    Kingfishers at Condat 60
    Rouffignac 61
    Font de Gaume 62
    Les Combarelles 63
    ‘Summer’s going quickly now’ 63

Notes 64