Burning Bridges (Welsh Poets)
(A first book of poetry published in America by Dylan Thom...)
A first book of poetry published in America by Dylan Thomas's daughter, Aeronwy Thomas, on the occasion of her participating, with Peter Thabot Jones, in the first national Dylan Thomas Tribute Tour of America (Spring 2008) since the death of Dylan in 1953. "What does one write about a poet who bears the weight of an already illustrious father who is a poet of stature? Of course, one cannot but help make comparisons, but it is a mistake to read any poet's work in the light of another unless it is for specific study. Aeronwy Thomas is her own poet, perhaps not with the gravity of a Dylan Thomas or a Sylvia Plath, but she has qualities of vision that make her a highly individual and original writer. Obviously, and it is the same for all of us, Aeonwy has had a childhood and parents. That those parents and that childhood helped to shape the poet is inescapable--so it is also an obvious fact that it was, and still is, a necessary impulse that she writes about these things. I am touchd that I have been asked to edit this collection. It is no secret that I have a special affection for Dylan's work and that Aeronwy trusted me enough to allow me to edit and produce her last collection, Rooks and Poems; but I am also aware that these poems are very precious in that they have been written at all, given the literary shadow and pressures under which they have been produced. I hope to show something of the road that Aeronwy Thomas has taveled--from the Boat House in Laugharne, through Italy, to present day London. Also I hope to show the development of the poet and her skilful use of the poets' 'craft and sullen art'. As Dylan Thomas suggests: poetry is sullen. I often feel that it has to be hacked out of nothing but air and sound and displays very much the depth of humanity in general and the depth of the individual, too. To read across the simple Laugharne imagery, the sunlit land of Italy, the surprises sprung by dead parents and brother, and to venture onto the surreal plateau of Aeronwy's later writing about her own children and other matters is to realise her poetic strengths. They are nothing like her father's, they are nothing like any other British poet. There are influences, notably the open and simple construction of Far Eastern poetry, as 'Lilies' demonstrates, right through to often humorous surrealism as in 'Ferrywise'. For those who merely have an interest in the Dylan Thomas story, an interest in Wales, or the reader who loves poetry for its own sake, this collection holds many treasures and much knowledge. I, for one, am grateful that this poet has the courage to 'go forth'. --From the "Foreword," Martin Holroyd, Editor of Poetry Monthly
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