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Jane Campbell
Poetry/Barddoniaeth
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Mighty
I dreaded us losing
our Gruffalo dad,
an army of hands and feet
the strict skin of him towering,
so hard to kiss.
Now softened to this heap in a hospital bed
he lets me warm-oil-massage
his giant hands
pleads
sing me to sleep
slowly
Degrading
aka Beneath
Angry older girls
rulers of St Mary’s school
mob me in a cubicle
pressure me for proof
of playground claims
that my first period
despite my youth
had already come
my pants are dragged down
as I’m forced centre of a sorry stage
recasting them
in perpetuity
slow for their age
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Llangybi's Wishing Well
Village women visited me
every rain or shine day
tucked long skirts up against mudding
leaned in deep to suckle my flow
like lovers we face-gazed
sometimes the only mirror they would know
I listened to every mother’s tale
played favourites in the public spats
then cooled ankles to reduce swell
befriended their bag of thirsts
as they banked on me
demanded I determine destinies
not enough simply
to dissolve mountains
lubricate land
they brought me a poor runty babe
or stumbled heavy down my earth steps
draped with an ailing parent
for whom they could not afford to care.
Local legend lore still allows
a night on my slate bed-slab
will conjure kill or cure
but I dread the cries of guttering despair
when wishes are whispered once again
into votive ribbons
tied into my hawthorn hair.
Read as part of a live interview with Mab Jones in BBC radio Wales programme Giants in the Sky https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000yg1j