Poetry Please - 01/06/2008

We celebrate the arrival of the outdoor season with a programme recorded last week at the 2008 Guardian Hay Festival. The featured poems reflect something of the borders between Wales and England: the English side is represented by Alfred Noyes and the Welsh poetry chosen from listeners’ requests includes work by Dannie Abse, Sheenagh Pugh and RS Thomas. Roger was joined on stage by readers Manon Edwards and Richard Mitchley, and by Gwyneth Lewis who reads some of her own poetry and one by her fellow poet, Christopher Meredith, whose work she particularly admires. The Birthright by Eiluned Lewis From: Anglo-Welsh Poetry 1480-1990 Publ: seren The View from the Window RS Thomas From: Selected Poems 1946-1968 Publ: Granada Wizards by Alfred Noyes From: Poetry of the Transition 1850-1914 Publ: Oxford University Press All Day it Has Rained by Alun Lewis From: The Oxford Book of War Poetry Publ: Oxford Words by Edward Thomas From: The Collected Poems of Edward Thomas Publ: Oxford How to Knit a Poem by Gwyneth Lewis Not yet published Memorial Sweater by Gwyneth Lewis Not yet published These two poems only feature in the Saturday night edition Knitting Needles by Roger McGough Not Yet Published Nana’s Knitting Needles by Roger McGough Not Yet Published Mother Tongue by Gwyneth Lewis From: Keeping Mum Publ: Bloodaxe My Father was Distant by Gwyneth Lewis From: Keeping Mum Publ: Bloodaxe This poem only features in the Saturday night edition. A Past by Gwyneth Lewis From: Keeping Mum Publ: Bloodaxe What Flight Meant by Christoper Meredith From: The Meaning of Flight Publ: seren Welsh Love Letter by Michael Burn From: Poems as an Accompaniment to a Life Pub: Michael Russell This poem only features in the Saturday night edtion. Preseli Blue by Caroline Gill From: The Lie of the Land Publ: Cinnamon Press Sometimes by Sheenagh Pugh From: Selected Poems Publ: seren