Place & Belonging
These poems are rooted in locations that shape identity — from hometown streets to iconic Welsh villages. They reflect how place connects us to memory, meaning, and home.
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From Silence, We Turn
The world hums.Phones glow.Everyone’s talking —but no one’s listening. A mother pleads, unheard.A neighbour’s grief drifts past like static.Sirens blur into laughterfrom somewhere else.We keep walking. “Are you there?”“Do you listen?”The questions echo off glassand fall into silence. Even out in the fieldsyou can still hear it —that low, electric buzz.Engines. Screens.The hum that never stops. This is what it’s come to:so much noise,and yet nothing worth hearing. Then—a pause.A light through the door.Blue and gold.Warm hands.A chair pulled out for someone new. Here, people listen.Really listen.No filters.No noise.Just space. A wheel turns —not the metal kind,but one made of kindness,steady and shared. This is Rotary.Not power.Not pride.Just people showing…
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Llanfair PG
“Oh, you speak Welsh?”—here comes the refrain, The same bloody question yet once again. “Can you say the long funny place name?” As if that’s the height of my nation’s fame. Half of you here, born and bred, Would trip on the words, turn speech to dread. Yet somehow, it lingers, a tongue-twisting dare, A Victorian gimmick—a tourist’s snare. A name so long, a name so grand, Yet what does it offer but sea and sand? Rhosllannerchrugog, once proud and tall, Knocked from the top—no crown at all. John Morris-Jones and his tailoring mate, Sealed poor Rhos’s unlucky fate. And so we are left with a name that’s absurd, And…
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Llysfaen
Lying high on rugged ground, Limestone quarries all around. You’ll gaze in awe at hills and sea, Semaphore signals told ships where to be. From dockside days to village charm, A place I’ve called home, safe and warm. Evening light on cliffs so steep, Nature’s beauty ours to keep.
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Abergele
Amid rolling hills and coastal air, Beneath Gwrych Castle’s watchful stare. Echoes of history in stone so grand, Remembered stories of this land. Gentle waves at Pensarn’s shore, Ebb and flow forevermore. Laughter rings at Manorafon Farm, Embracing nature’s peaceful charm.
