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.