The first collection of poetry by a new and original voice, comprising fifty-three poems combining surreal and classic elements with a language of beauty and harshness.

Y casgliad cyntaf o farddoniaeth gan lais newydd a gwreiddiol, yn cynnwys pum deg tri o gerddi amrywiol yn cyfuno elfennau swreal a chlasurol ynghyd ag iaith gain ac egr.

This is the first collection of poems by an intelligent, talented woman who has just graduated from the MA course at Cardiff University. Arguments regarding the efficacy and purpose of such Creative Writing courses must surely be redundant. Certainly, Ms Rhydderch proves an admirable ambassador for Cardiff.

Rockclimbing in Silk is varied and inventive: poems are at times obliquely confessional, at times playing the Martian game. Metaphors are often bold and rain down on the reader. There is no shortage of wit in these poems:

I sleep under his shield, enfolded
in an English flag I think will
become my shroud. While I thrill
among the lilies, placing a chestnut
on the grate like a move in chess,
I see the incentive of lace
defeat artillery hands down.

(‘Paramilitary Lover’)

And the awkwardness of that last line resolves itself into a barbed pun on ‘hands down’. This is a poet who is concerned as much with language as subject-matter, as all true poets should be. ‘The Electric Chair’ holds it victim while we are ‘watching you fizz / in its embrace. . . ’; a Chinese girl after ‘A Visit to the Footbinder’ comes to realise the implication of that traditional, ritual abuse:

In half-bitten nightmares, I am stumbling
through brittle fields of lotuses
with my hands tied behind me.

This collection is to be praised and valued for such offerings. That said, there are, particularly in the second half of the book, too many poems that are too closed, that do not offer the reader encouragement to work towards the necessary decoding: ‘Labyrinthitis – Ariadne’s 115th Dream Revisited’, ‘Stranded on Ithaca’ and ‘Leaving Bird Rock’. Each of those could surely have benefited from one more workshop.

Rockclimbing in Silk is, though, a notable debut from a poet who has already achieved a sophistication and depth in her voice.

Tony Curtis

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment 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 ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.