Roots

Llanwrytd Eisteddfod 2025 (3rd)

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Verses arrive (some of the time)

through the dark of soft soil

or the crackle glazed bases

of terracotta pots.

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They linger under fingernails

or sticky-weed hitch hike

on a cardi

or the woollen tops

of Auden’s

grubby gardening socks.

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They defy all the clocks,

any timely habits,

missions,

traditions

and seasonal gardening law.

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They come when they want

sprouting and waving

through cracks in the paving;

spreading their tendrils and

savouring light.

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Their roots are in prose

but their shoots give birth

to rhythmic philosophies

offered on loan

to borrowing poets

who write them but know

that the essence must hold

past the edit.

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The next seeds are sown

while we’re pruning the blind-side

lines of Virginia Creeper.

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Note: W.H. Auden, best known for Stop All The Clocks, had an explicit and metaphorical appreciation for gardening, believing it symbolized a healthy relationship with the earth. He incorporated this idea into his ‘Daydream College for Bards’, where he instructed his students to cultivate their own garden plots as an act of principled living against societal exploitation of soil.