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Mike Jenkins, sometime teacher on the Gurnos, one of the most deprived estates in Britain, but lately at a school in leafier Radyr, has attempted to make poems out of the demotic speech of his adopted Merthyr Tydfil, and to use the everyday language of his pupils in a way no other Welsh poet has ever tried. It is a brave attempt and, in many instances, it has had admirable results.
Some may compare his work with those artists who make artefacts out of rubbish, while others are just not tuned in to how people living in the Blaenau of Glamorgan speak, so they may find it difficult to make much sense of these poems. Certainly, as with all dialect writing, the poet has to give some thought to how he is going to represent the sounds and syntax of the spoken language and I think Mike Jenkins has succeeded in this too.
There are only about a dozen poems in this mode here, and here is a brief taste of what they look like on the page:
It defnitlee wern er usband
oo called er summin rotten,
spected er t’come runnin
with is ‘Sit!’ an ‘Lie down!’
The poet has a problem, of course, not unlike the one MacDiarmid had with Scots: he may have a hoard of local words and pronunciations at his command, but whenever he has to express a more complex thought or feeling the vocabulary he uses is pretty standard, however much he drops his aitches. I have never discussed this point with Mike Jenkins but he will no doubt offer me his opinion in due course.
As for the bulk of this collection, it contains some fine poems on subjects we know attract the poet: anything to do with the six counties of northern Ireland (where his wife comes from), the radical history of Merthyr, modish artists like Victor Jara, the down-and-outs who live in the back alleys of our large towns, and so on; not much that’s new here and some of the ‘political’ stuff is old hat by now, popular only among pint-pot patriots who strike a pose or two in the back bar late at night.
Many of the poems are very close to being ‘chopped-up prose’ and I wish Jenkins would try to rhyme sometimes to introduce a musical note into what he is saying.
Meic Stephens
It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.
Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatad Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.
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