Finistere by Elizabeth Speller

This is the Pointe du Raz,
this place is Finistere,
the fall, the undertow, the earth's end where
my father's face is bones beneath the feathers of his blown back hair.
Tears in his mica eyes, spray on his skin
here on the Pointe du raz the salted man leans in
to the force of wind and the rough, wet air.
Keep blowing east to landfall, wind
from sea to earth, from dark beyond
the razor's edge of Finistere;
keep him keep all my safety here.

Poet of the Month: Elizabeth Speller

Cyprus Well Stories was invited to the Bridport Prize 2008 celebrations and we had a wonderful time. The anthology of winners is brilliant, and is available now at www.bridportprize.org.uk.

One poem really stood out for us personally, and that was 'Finistere' by Elizabeth Speller. In fact we think it's beautiful, so Elizabeth is our Poet of the Month for December.

Elizabeth Speller lives in Gloucestershire. She reads Classics as a mature student at Lucy Cavendish Colledge, Cambridge University, and held a Hosking Houses Residency in 2008. She has written for publications as diverse as The Big Issue, New Statesman, Sunday Times, Independent, Financial Times and Vogue, has published four non-fiction books and her poetry appears in anthologies. She used her own words with those of Milton and Shakespeare in a libretto, 'Farewell', composed by Michael Berkeley and commissioned by Paul McCartney for his wife, Linda. This year she has been a winner in both the Ledbury and Bridport prizes. Her first novel, Death of an Unknown Warrior will be published by Virago in 2009.

We hope you like this poem as much as we do, and we'd like to thank Frances and Lindsay and all at the Bridport Prize and Bridport Arts Centre for looking after us so well!

Add a bit of Cornish to your day

If you enjoyed Richard's poem and are interested to find out more about the Cornish Language, visit www.magakernow.com, the internet home of the Cornish Language Partnership. There you can learn some new expressions, take advantage of an online translation service, play games, listen to newscasts and podcasts and music and watch film clips.

Cornish is the Celtic language of Cornwall and is recognised as a minority language under the Council of Europe's Charter for Regional or Minority languages. It's closely related to welsh and Breton, and more distantly to Irish, scots Gaelic and Manx. As well as being visible in place names around Cornwall it is also a thriving community language, with an increasing number of people learning and using it.

An Err by Richard Gendall

Pa rama gorah truz war an garrak luz,
Po war an vidhan laz, po war an vor,
po war an dreath eu golhez gen an moer,
mi or tel era vi a saval
kenz leb rig saval liaz aral,
hag arta sir vedn guil andelha.
An stynner, ev auedh,
a pallaz der an doar,
ky vova an kenza
diougel na el boaz
dho voza an dyuetha
vedn tedna anal enna.

Na huath an err,
kodhez doar adhor an ebbarn,
kan, glan, ilin ytava,
ha guelaz i lanuthder pa rama,
yeinder an mena a transformia
leb era vi a kerraz,
serten eu dro vi an kenza,
try vedham an dyuetha,
rag skon pyb vollan a vedh kellez,
tedhez dho vez, trailiez do dhour,
ha gyndzha kenefra ol ez gureez
gennam war i enap flour.

The Snow by Richard Gendall

When I set foot upon hoary rock
or on the green meadow, or upon the road,
or on the sand that by the sea is washed,
I know I stand
where many others formerly have stood
and surely will do so again.
The miner, he too,
digging through the ground,
though he may be the first
surely cannot be the last
to draw breath here.

Yet the snow,
from out the sky fallen to the ground,
glistening white, clean, pure there it is,
and when its cleanness I see
transforming the bleakness of the hill
whereon I walk,
it is certain that I am the first,
that I shall also be the last,
for every flake will soon be lost,
melted away, turned into water,
with every trace that's made
by me on its matchless face.

Poet of the Month: Richard Gendall

Richard Gendall was born in 1924. He was first introduced to his native Cornish language when he was four years old. After serving during the war, he took a degree in modern languages. At University, he started work on reversing Nance's 1938 Cornish-English dictionary and produced the new English-Cornish dictionary in 1952. He launched the magazine Hedhyu in 1955 and in 1966 initiated and named the Cornish Language Board.

In 1984 he turned to the study of Modern Cornish in earnest, publishing Laugh and Learn Traditional Cornish in 1987, An Curnoack Hethow in 1992, and A Practical Dictionary of Modern Cornish in 1997. He is currently rewriting his Practical Dictionary, based on the large amount of new material that has recently come to light.

Somehow, he also finds the time to write poetry and we are delighted Richard Gendall is the Cyprus Well Poet of the Month for November.

A further selection of Richard's work is published in Nothing Broken: Recent Poetry in Cornish, edited by Tim Saunders and published by Francis Boutle. The Language of Our Forefathers, with accompanying CD is now available from www.robbiewright.com.

Arts Council England Support

Arts & Books are delighted to announce further support for the building of the new literature agency from Arts Council England, South West. Fittingly, this announcement will be made tomorrow evening at the annual Charles Causley celebration in Eagle House Hotel, Launceston.

Assistance from Arts Council England will enable Arts & Books to begin the process of establishing an independent Board of Trustees for the new agency, and to start fund raising for the activities planned. The support also allows Arts & Books to work alongside Charles Causley Trust towards the joint aim of locating the agency in offices in Charles Causley's house at Cyprus Well.

We will be recruiting a Board of Trustees early in 2009 and fund raising preparation begins immediately.

The new agency will enable and nurture literature activity in the South west of England. It is founded on the simple belief that literature activity should be accessible to all. It will be a new, idealistic, passionate and devoted supporter of the Literature Sector. Its aim is to benefit and grow literature activity in every community, accessible to everyone. Awards schemes will be available for non-profit organisations to fund events, Literature Development Workers, and Writing Residencies.

National Poetry Day

Today is National Poetry Day, so we say, Happy National Poetry Day everybody!

You can find more information about the day at the Poetry Society website (www.poetrysociety.org.uk), where the Poetry landmarks section will tell you if there is an event taking place near you.

The theme of this year's Day is 'Work' - which somehow sends out a subliminal message to the bloggers at Cyprus Well Stories.

But before we go, to honour the day, here is an excerpt from a favourite poem, 'Hidden Song' by Eugenio Montejo:

I couldn't distinguish the bird from the song.
I heard whispers, sudden blasts, chords,
golden oracles in droplets,
indecipherable things.*

Have a very good day!


* From 'The Trees: Selected Poems 1967-2004', Salt Publishing

Charles Causley Reading From His Poems

www.poetryarchive.org publish a wonderful CD of Charles Causley reading his work, which is available to buy. There are also sound files of the poet reading his work on the website itself, including as a highlight a reading of his moving and beautiful 'Eden Rock'.

The track listing for the CD:

1. Nursery Rhyme of Innocence & Experience
2. Chief Petty Officer
3. Recruiting Drive
4. Ballad of the Bread Man
5. I am the Great Sun
6. At the British War Cemetery, Bayeux
7. Timothy Winters
8. Armistice Day
9. At the Grave of John Clare
10. By St Thomas Water
11. Innocent's Song
12. Healing a Lunatic Boy
13. The Ballad of Charlotte Dymond
14. Trusham
15. I Saw a Jolly Hunter
16. My Young Man's a Cornishman
17. Miller's End
18. Who?
19. A Wedding Portrait
20. Forbidden Games
21. Kelly Wood
22. In San Remo
23. In Asciano
24. In a Junior School
25. I am the Song
26. Eden Rock

Running time is 50.00
ISBN: 9781905556045

A Soft-edged Reed of Light by Julia Copus

A Soft-edged Reed of Light

That was the house where you asked me to remain
on the eve of my planned departure. Do you remember?
The house remembers it - the deal table
with the late September sun stretched on its back.
As long as you like, you said, and the chairs, the clock,
the diamond leaded lights in the pine-clad alcove
of that 1960s breakfast-room bore witness.
I had only meant to stay for a week
but you reached out a hand, the soft white cuff of your shirt
open at the wrist, and out in the yard,
the walls of the house considered themselves
in the murk of the lily-pond, and it was done.

Done. Whatever gods had bent to us then to whisper,
Here is your remedy - take it - here, your future,
either they lied or we misheard.
How changed we are now, how superior,
after the end of it - the unborn children,
the mornings that came with a soft-edged reed of light
over and over, the empty rooms we woke to.
And yet if that same dark-haired boy
were to lean towards me now, with one shy hand
bathed in September sun, as if to say,
All things are possible - then why not this?
I'd take it still, praying it might be so.


Julia Copus

Poet of the Month: Julia Copus

Our poet of the month for October is the wonderful Julia Copus.

Julia's publications include The Shuttered Eye, which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and In Defence of Adultery. Both books are published by Bloodaxe and are Poetry Book Society Recommendations. Julia has won many awards for her poetry, including three Arts Council England Writers Awards and a Hawthornden Fellowship. In 2002, she won First Prize in the Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition with 'Breaking the Rule'. Her radio plays include Eenie Meenie Macka Racka (winner of the BBC's Alfred Bradley Award), and The Enormous Radio, which was broadcast on Radio 4 in July of this year.

Julia Copus is a regular tutor for the Poetry School and the Arvon Foundation. She is currently working on her third collection of poetry, and is an Advisory Fellow for the Royal Literary Fund.

She lives in Somerset.

Readings, recollections & awards

Please join The Charles Causley Trust at The Eagle House Hotel, Launceston at 7.30pm on Thursday 16th October 2008 for a special event:

Charles Causley's Saints & Sinners

Prizes will be presented for the 2008 Causley Poetry Competion by Trust patron, The Lord Tyler of Linkinhorne, there will be readings from Causley's work, and an update from Arts & Books on the progress of developing the new literature agency for South West England.

£5.00 to include admission & refreshments.

Tickets from The Bookshop, 10 Church Street, Launceston, 01566 774107.

Presented by the Charles Causley Trust Reg. No. 1102459 & The Charles Causley Society in conjunction with The Friends of Lawrence House Museum.

The River and the Rope Bridge by Greta Stoddart

The River and the Rope Bridge

Let's try and get halfway then stand firm,

rein in each rough jerk and shudder.

But the merest sway in the wind has us

wobbling hopefully on towards the bank

or crawling back to the woods we know.

The river beneath has seen it all before.

Like us it has nowhere special to go

but goes there all the same. All the same

you'd think it'd stall and darken but no,

it'd still sparkle in the sun, go on

(Go on!) if we gave up and jumped in.

Greta Stoddart

Poet of the Month: Greta Stoddart

Cyprus Well Stories is very proud to announce its first Poet of the Month, a continuing series that will highlight the work of writers in the South West.

Our very first poet is Greta Stoddart, with 'The River and the Rope Bridge'.

Greta's first collection At Home in the Dark (Anvil) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize 2002.

Her poems have been published in many newspapers and magazines including The Independent, The Spectator, Poetry Review and TLS.

Greta Stoddart is a tutor at the Poetry School, the Arvon Foundation and Bath Spa University.

Her second collection Salvation Jane will be published in September 2008.

She lives in East Devon.

Launceston in the rain

Work towards the new agency and its home at Cyprus Well has begun. Arts & Books now have a new base to work from, above The Book Shop in Launceston on Church Street, with a wonderful view of St Mary Magdalene. This week, there have been some outbursts of quite torrential rain, but the Church across the street is never anything but beautiful. Arts & Books is reminded of that line in Causley's poem 'Mary, Mary Magdalene', spoken by a nervous groom:


Mary, Mary Magdalene
Underneath the spray,
What will you be sending me
On my wedding-day?


It's said that if you manage to lodge a stone on the back of the granite statue of Saint Mary Magdalene on the east side of the Church it will bring you good luck. If you're passing by, you should have a go.

Launceston in the rain is beautiful too.

About Launceston

It is easy to see why Launceston captured the poetic imagination of Charles Causley.

If you rise early, when there is a slight mist in the valley, you'll find a completely rare crispness and clarity to the air. Launceston Castle wakes striking and magical into the sun and stands tall above the green hills of the surrounding countryside.

As Causley wrote:

WINDED, on this blue stack
Of downward-drifting stone,
The unwashed sky a low-
Slung blanket thick with rain,
I search the cold, unclear
Vernacular of clay,
Water and woods and rock:
The primer of my day *

Make a visit to www.visitlaunceston.co.uk to help you plan a trip. You should also have a look at the links to the right - The Charles Causley Society have a great page where they travel the town as it features in Causley's poems.






* From 'On Launceston Castle' by Charles Causley.

The Charles Causley Trust

Charles Causley died in 2003. He is generally acknowledged as one of the very finest Twentieth century English poets. He was lived all his life in Launceston in Cornwall, where he was a popular and admired figure and, for many years, a much-loved school teacher. His poetic reputation was worldwide.

Much of his work is a direct celebration of Cornish and Launceston life, character, history and legend. To celebrate Charles Causley is to celebrate the poetry of the region. His poetry brought him many awards, among them The Queen's Gold Medal and The Ingersoll/TS Eliot Award. He received the Hon DLitt from the University of Exeter where his archive is now held.

The Charles Causley Trust exists to keep his memory alive and to promote writing in the community and region in which he lived. To this end, the Trust has acquired Cyprus Well, the house where Charles Causley lived for fifty years. This was made immediately possible by an interest free loan of £140 000 in 2006.

There is still a great deal to be done to further the conservation and conversion of Cyprus Well to create a permanent memorial to Charles causley and contemporary poets of Cornwall and Devon, to create seminar spaces and, now, a home for a new agency in the South West, an agency with aims so very similar to that of the Trust itself.

If you would like to support the Charles Causley Trust appeal, you can do so by visiting any branch of Lloyds TSB and making a payment to The Charles Causley Trust account, held at the Launceston branch of Lloyds TSB. (A/C 0846748 - Sort Code 30-94-91) The Charles Causley Trust are a registered charity, no. 1102459.

Arts & Books

Arts & Books is a freelance cultural development agency. We are project managing the start-up of the new agency, and will be based in Launceston until the end of the project and the new agency is up and running. We’re based in South West England, and we help our clients with feasibility, organisational development, fundraising and business planning. The steering group for the SWLDA project are Arts Council England, South West, and ArtsMatrixLtd.

What's the blog for?

Cyprus Well Stories will be telling the story of the new agency as it takes shape, and sharing the work done by the Charles Causley Trust on the renovation of Cyprus Well itself. It will become a focus for news of fund raising activity and other information.

We also hope that it will also become a showcase for new poetry in the South West, and every month we'll be featuring work by poets in the region.

Welcome to Cyprus Well Stories!

Hello and welcome to Cyprus Well Stories, a new blog for a new literature agency in South West England. The agency currently has the holding name, South West Literature Development Agency (SWLDA) and will be based at Cyprus Well, the Launceston home of the late poet, Charles Causley.

The purpose of the agency, governed by a voluntary board of directors and employing a small scale staffing structure, will be to increase literature development capacity in the South West by raising funds for activity, through trust and fund application, sponsorship, donation, and proceeds from events, which can then be used to invest fairly across the entire region in the following developmental areas:

People

Grant schemes and partnerships will be created to make it easier for places and agencies in the South West to appoint Literature Development Workers and Writers in Residence. Up to one third of the cost of literature workers and longer residencies will be available.

Activity

The new agency will build a regional programme which will make it easier for groups, venues, and agencies to arrange activities with visiting prose writers, playwrights, poets, screenwriters and storytellers. A grant scheme will assist with travel, fees and accommodation for readings, short residencies and workshops.

Advocacy

The new agency will stand up for literature activity and activists in the South West, help to map activity and build networks regional, national and international.

The steering group for the SWLDA development are Arts Council England, South West and ArtMatrix Ltd.