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Two Parched Poets ​ǀ January 2018

Two Parched Poets

Two parched poets in a bustling bar
Sigh and keep forgetting who's to blame.
Where is the traveller from afar
Promised to remind them where they are?
The sign above the entrance's the same

As always, but there's a different door
Upon the hinges. No one keeps tabs
On the brassy counters anymore.
The street outside wasn't there before.
In the daily grind the pavement slabs

Are pulled up and set down, rearranged.
Later the byways and alleys lie
All over town, tanked up and deranged
Through the night in a sodden state, changed
And suited in the drawn morning, dry

As a bone. One keeps track of the trains,
The other the time, but their eyes close
And the city buckles under, lanes
Give. Tomorrow is all that remains,
Not so much where it lingers as goes.

I visited Mumbai in 2011 and 2014, and was introduced both times to the city's many faces by one who knows it as well as anyone, the poet Sampurna Chattarji. This poem is a belated response to the Mumbai I saw and the various Bombays that became visible to me only through Sampurna's eyes. As she might say, the city is in a constant state of mutation. The poem is also an adaptation of a section of a long Welsh poem I wrote in 2016, and was written as part of a collaboration with Sampurna in 2017 that lead to the publication of a collection of poems, Elsewhere Where Else / Lle Arall Ble Arall (Poetrywala, 2018).
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sefydlwyd yn Ionawr 2016 | established January 2016
hawlfraint Eurig salisbury o ran y testun a'r lluniau, oni nodir yn wahanol | all text and pictures © Eurig Salisbury unless otherwise stated
  • Cerddi | Poems
    • Cerddi 2023 Poems >
      • The Little Things | March 2023
      • Archif Ddarlledu Cymru | Mawrth 2023
      • Wales Broadcast Archive | March 2023
    • Cerddi 2022 Poems >
      • I Gyfarch Erin | Awst 2022
    • Cerddi 2021 Poems >
      • Cywydd croeso | Awst 2021
      • Codwn | Hydref 2021
      • Rise | October 2021
    • Cerddi 2020 Poems >
      • Outside Inside Centre | November 2020
      • Ni 'da chi, bois | Tachwedd 2020
      • Parliament Square | Ionawr 2020
      • Eisteddfod Goll | Awst 2020
    • Cerddi 2019 Poems >
      • Carol Rybuddiol i'r Byd | Rhagfyr 2019
      • Arad Goch | Medi 2019
      • Gorsedh Kernow | Medi 2019
    • Cerddi 2018 Poems >
      • I Gyfarch Gruffudd Owen | Tachwedd 2018
      • To Iau ar Ben Tŷ Awen | Medi 2018
      • Mewn Hiraeth am Aneirin | Awst 2018
      • Heddlu Dyfed-Powys | Ebrill 2018
      • Two Parched Poets ǀ January 2018
    • Cerddi 2017 Poems >
      • I Gyfarch Sonia | Awst 2017
      • Y Pethau Bychain | Mawrth 2017
    • Cerddi 2016 Poems >
      • Er Cof am Eifion Gwynne | Tachwedd 2016
      • I Gyfarch Aneirin | Awst 2016
      • Brexit | Awst 2016
      • Serenestial | Awst 2016
      • Cerddi Donostïa, Gwlad y Basg | Gorffennaf 2016
      • Dychan i'r Sied yng Nghwm Du | Ionawr 2016
      • Elan Valley | January 2016
      • Cerddi Bardd y Mis | Ionawr 2016
    • Cerddi 2015 Poems >
      • I Teilo ac Einir | Awst 2015
      • I Gyfarch Hywel | Awst 2015
      • Cariad@Iaith | Mehefin 2015
      • Ger y Lli | Mehefin 2015
    • Cerddi 2014 Poems >
      • YES | Medi 2014
      • Ein Hafon Fach Ni | Medi 2014
      • Ger Taid | Awst 2014
      • Cyfarch Ceri | Awst 2014
      • Yn y Coch | Awst 2014
      • Stormy Castle, Gower | July 2014
      • Stormy Castle, Bro Gŵyr | Gorffennaf 2014
      • Old Farm Mews, Dinas Powys | Gorffennaf 2014
      • Ffwrnes, Llanelli | Gorffennaf 2014
      • New Barn, Felindre | Gorffennaf 2015
      • Talgarth Mill | July 2014
      • Melin Talgarth | Gorffennaf 2014
      • Capel Galilea, Llanilltud Fawr | Gorffennaf 2014
    • Cerddi 2012 Poems >
      • Awn Ninnau yn Bananas | Chwefror 2012
      • Sut i Goginio'r Wawr | Mehefin 2012
      • A Recipe for Dawn | June 2012
    • Cerddi 2011 Poems >
      • Stres mewn Preseb | Rhagfyr 2011
    • Cerddi 2010 Poems >
      • Yn y Coch | Gorffennaf 2010
    • Cerddi 2008 Poems >
      • Tir Newydd | Awst 2008
      • Gruffydd Aled Williams | Gorffennaf 2008
  • Blog
  • Comisiynu | Commission
  • Llyfrau | Books
  • Hanes | Bio