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Poetry Cornwall
Palores Publications
1 Station Hill
Redruth
Kernow
TR15 2PP
UK
ISSN 1476-7007
£3.50
Subscriptions: 3 issues £10 [North America, US$25; Australia A$25]
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This page last updated: 11th August 2004. 		Poetry Cornwall #1

The magazine opens with the three winning poems from the First Poetry Cornwall Competition judged by Jenny Hamlett. The poems are all very competent, as are most of the fourteen shortlisted poems. A couple are in Cornish with English translations. Not typical but nonetheless interesting is TY HA MY/YOU AND ME by Pol Hodge:

	Ty glyw an ilow koynt           You hear the strange music
	A 'gan henwyn-tyller ni.        Of our place-names.
	My a glyw an yeth vyw,          I hear the living language,
	Kolonn ow kamma krev            A heart beating strong
	agan gwlaskor nyni.             Of our country.
Four editors, Sally Evans, Gerald England, Geoff Stevens and Gloria B. Yates are next featured, but only the last-named impressed me.

Much more interesting is the short article on John Harris (1820 - 1884) who is cited as a Great Cornish Poet. I much enjoyed his poem which begins

	TO A MOUSE
	Which had eaten the leaves of my Lexicon

	How darest thou, soft-footed elf
	  With tiny open jaw,
	To cram such crooked syllables
	  Into thy greedy maw?
	Would not some common household-words
	  Such joy to thee afford,
	Or crumbs that fall at supper-time
	  From off our humble board?
Although around 50% of the contributors are from Cornwall only about 5% of the poetry is directly concerned with Cornwall itself. Thus the magazine, whilst maintaining a Cornish focus, is not self-centered but feeds from and nurtures an international perspective.

A 15-page supplement, only available with the issue, is VISITS TO THE LIZARD by Peter Redgrove. It consists of half a dozen poems and some illustrations. The latter are not credited. I'm not sure if the poor quality of these is deliberate or not. They look like grey-scale images printed on a laser in need of a new toner-cartridge — but this does give them a slightly surreal feel which may be intentional.

Redgrove's poems are set out in three columns and we are told they can be read vertically as well as horizontally. Here is a short taste:

  The Lizard sea
		'shining from shook foil' 
				sun at centre, clouds stretching
  Out like wings of down
		wind at sea
				dusting off white mist
  Brushes shaking out clean leaves
		stone bursting forth in indigenous species
				old houses vibrating their
An excellent first issue — I look forward to more.

reviewer: Martin Grampound.
Poetry Cornwall #5

Here is a mixture of

  • poetry in English including a number by Cornish poets;
  • poetry in Black Country, Norfolk, Devonshire, Yorkshire dialect;
  • poetry in Irish, Spanish, Chilean, Cornish, Zambian, Swedish with English translations.
The emphasis is on language, stirred together in the Hotpot of Inspiration with the compliments of the editor Les Merton, or, pennskifer as he calls himself. who also has available his CD recital in 'delightful Cornish lilt'. It all makes for an interesting read in a bit of a poetic jungle, with just a sop to the environment of ancient Cornwall where it still exists from Ronnie Goodyer's PERPETUAL TIME, presumably mentioning a hill fort [see note below], as in the extract:
	Perpetual time in a Cornwall August,
	fire from the forges roaring aloud;
	here on the Lizard's tumbling landscape,
	the ghost of An Goff is standing proud.
The best poem in English is ROUNDWOOD QUAY, AUGUST EVENING by Penelope Shuttle, where the tankers in the estuary are like 
	giant toys in a long grey bath
and under the moon 
	. . .  the ecological father
	supervises
	the release of the crustacea.
There is a round-up of four editors (Niall McGrath of The Black Mountain Review, Vera Rich of Manifold, Pamela Constantine of Firebird Press and associated magazine, and Vicky Stevens of Isis Press) with poetry, addresses and other details. Simon Parker writes on Pol Hodge, the Redruth poet, Cornish language expert and Gorsedd bard (bardic name Mab Stenek Veur — Son of a Great Tin Ground). Hodge grew up in Troon, in the shadow of Carn Brea, birthplace of the 19th century miner and poet John Harris.

This is a mixed bag. I think the non-Cornish items sit too heavily on the Cornish ones, but it seems likely that there is drive for expansion, and one can certainly look forward to more from Poetry Cornwall hopefully seeking to restore a balance.

[note] An Goff is not in fact a reference to a hill fort as the reviewer surmised, but to Michael Joseph An Gof (the smith) of St Keverne and Thomas Flamank who were leaders in the Battle of Blackheath in 1497. (This rebellion was commemorated in 1997 with a march from St Keverne to Blackheath, London and received national media coverage.)
reviewer: Eric Ratcliffe.