Dr Rhea Seren Phillips studied for a PhD at Swansea University (2016-2020). Her research centred on the way in which the Welsh metrical tradition could be adapted to reinterpret the cultural identification of modern Wales.

Her debut collection, Grandiloquent Wretches, published by Boiled String and Hafan Books, was released in 2020. She has also published a pamphlet titled SHumbert SHumbert, published by The Literary Pocket Book (2020).

Rhea’s poetry and academic research has recently appeared in Molly Bloom, Tears in the Fence and Blackbox Manifold (2021). Previous publications (2017-2020) include: The Edge of Necessary: Welsh Innovative Poetry 1966 – 2018 published by Boiled String and Aquifer Press (October 2018), Molly Bloom, Poetry Wales , Envoi (Cinnamon Press) The Lonely Crowd, Gogoneddus Ych-a-Fi: an exhibition of work by contemporary Surrealists (Cardiff Metropolitan University, February – April 2018), The Conversation and The Luxembourg Review (2017), among other publications. She has read for Molly Bloom (2020) and Multilingual Poetry – Tears in the Fence Festival 2020. Also, she has read at The Blackbox & CP&P Reading: Welsh Innovative Poetry (2021).

SHumbert SHumbert, Rhea Seren Phillips, published by The Literary Pocket Book, 2020.

Poems by Rhea

 

Hiraeth Turned Salty in the Pharynx

They rolled ^Hiraeth round their mouth like needles;

earmarked it for an allied nation to

conceal in _homesickness, misconstruing

a weight that tears at the ligaments of our tongue.

 

Morgen Soused Sodium Within Muscles

An omniscient voice bellowed from the scud of obscurity.

Pinched, Morgen drank the message through mutinous gills,

saw shadows of paper boats emerge from the pother

and swam up to greet the rickety old things that had soldered

iron upon themselves like starfish; broken under their battle cry,

she whispered to a caustic wind that overwhelmed them.

A smile thick as cream made them into tin-pot diving bells

as the archaic language oxidises them with salt.

 

Visual Art by Mark Sanders

This poem-collage is part of a project conceived and edited by David Greenslade, titled Imagined-Invited.  Writers were invited to compose a poem in which they invite anyone from time and space.  At least one visitor should have a connection to Wales and, ideally, another game should be mentioned.  Many were invited.  In the end twenty-one poets took part.  Participating poets came from Canada (2), Czech Republic (1), Ireland (2), France (1), Romania ((4), Wales (9) and the USA (1). Poem by Rhea Seren Phillips. The poem is a loose Villanelle. The voices are Lynette Roberts (An Argentine poet who settled in Wales and used characteristics of the Welsh metrical tradition in her poetry; Rosie who is known as her peasant friend in her poetry; and, Count Olaf from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The poem considers class issues.

You can follow Rhea on Twitter @rhea_seren.

 

Oriel Q,  Narberth has moved to a ground floor retail unit at 11 Market Street, Narberth.

No more stairs or lift as in the old Queen’s Hall Gallery. A total refurb to the ground floor area, with new white walls, exterior paintwork and hanging sign and ‘A’ board. The manager is Harriet Addyman. Gallery opening times are Wednesday to Saturday. 10am to 5pm. www.orielqnarberth.com

The Inaugural Exhibition ‘The Socially Distanced Woman’.

A Solo Exhibition by Jacqueline Janine Jones a member of the Welsh Group and of the Stuckist Movement. 4^th September to 17^th October 2020.

Jacqueline Jones was born in 1967 and grew up in rural West Wales, and went to Carmarthen Art College, Lampeter and Swansea University, recently she exhibited at the Mall Galleries in London. She describes her work as figurative, expressive. It is not without humour, but inspired by the poetry and folklore of her native West Wales. She paints, writes and every day and now lives and works in post industrial Porth in the Rhondda.

My work is primarily figurative, recently more narrative exploring quirky places and legends.

We are living in strange times and this has made me contemplate the role of the artist as outsider in isolation. The title to  this inaugural show at Oriel Q is a response to this.‘ The Self Isolating Woman’. My painting has many layers. The myriad layers of interpretation through both my eyes, and the vision of others.

I am an artist because I believe that artists are not satisfied with the world as they see it. They are like children, bored with the sameness, and they are moved deeply by the things they see and think about. I paint because I am compelled to. It’s like breathing air.

Once in a while we see something startling, someone whose vision, whose way of seeing is shocking and unsettling and compelling.

Jacqueline Jones

Her work is unfiltered, bursting with life in all its obduracy, her voice is unusual and unmistakeably authentic.

Statement: Ffin y Parc Country House and Gallery, Llanrwst.

Jacqueline Janine Jones.

Jacqueline has exhibited widley including the John Moore’s Gallery, Liverpool University and the Whitechapel Gallery, London.

‘By Invitation’ Royal Cambrian Academy,( Curated by Shani Rhys James.)

‘Oil Tanks’, Tate Modern, London.

‘Made at the Museum’ National Museum of Wales. Cardiff.

Quitas Gallery, New York.

                                                               The Place.

                                                   This is the place of our birth

                                              Where the clear glass of the porch

                                                Brings caged light into parlours

                                                      And qualifies this worth

 

                                        And this is the photograph on the mantle,

                                                 Celluloides absorbing so much

                                                 Are ours ours to puzzle out names,

                                              Fading and received by the hours

                                                  Ground to dust on the settle,

                                                  While the sun takes reception

                                              Through a blue otherness of panes             .

 

                                                    And this is the carpet, frayed

                                               By the courteous steps of time’s lurch

                                                That hesitates, yet will not be delayed,

                                               And this is the place that holds a furniture

                                               Arranged as a family set in contemplation,

                                          This is the place, and room, design of their nature.

                                                              Jacqueline Janine Jones.

Robert Minhinnick was born in Neath in 1952 and graduated from Aberystwyth and Cardiff Universities. Wales’ leading poet, novelist, translator and environmentalist. He has been awarded three ‘Wales Book of the Year’ in 1993,2006, 2018, Two Forward Prizes for individual poems, founded Friends of the Earth Cymru (Wales) and Sustainable Wales.

He is photographed here at the launch of his recent book of poetry, in March 2019,  ‘Dunes’ at Cover to Cover Books in Newton Road, Mumbles with artist Daniel Llewelyn Hall, who made the paintings for the book.

www.serenbooks.com