Chalk Pebble by Gillian Clarke

The heels of the foetus knead
the stone's roundness out of shape,
downtreading flesh, distorting
the ellipses of the sphere.
 
It is unexpectedly
salty to touch, its texture
warmer, rougher, weightier
in my hand than I had thought.
 
Boisterous in its bone
cradle, a stone-breaker,
thief in its mother's orchard,
it is apple-round.
 
Here the navel
knots it from its chalk down;
there the pressure as the embryo
kicks against ribcage and hip.
 
The cicatrice of a flower
is printed on one of its
curved surfaces. I carry it
as I walk Glamorgan beaches,
 
a warm, strange thing to worry
with my fingers. The fossil locked
in its belly stirs, a tender
fresh upheaval of the stone.
 

by Gillian Clarke
from Letter from a Far Country (Gwasg Gomer, 1982) 

Additional information: Since I am from the Glamorgan area I can recommend our shoreline with it’s cliffs formed of a combination of liassic limestone, shale and carboniferous sandstone/limestone as referenced by the Gillian Clarke in her poem.

There are many beaches along the coast but I can especially recommend, for anyone thinking of visiting the area, Ogmore Beach which is near the ruins of Ogmore Castle and the impressive Merthyr Mawr sand dunes.

However it’s very likely Gillian was referring to another beach along the Glamorgan coastline. Possibly, due to the reference to a fossilised foetus in the poem, it was St Donats Beach she was referring to as that is famed for having a number of fossils. If you do visit to look at the fossils please don’t take them.

Advertisement

Sunday by Gillian Clarke

 Getting up early on a Sunday morning
 leaving them sleep for the sake of peace,
 the lunch pungent, windows open
 for a blackbird singing in Cyncoed.
 Starlings glistening in the gutter come
 for seed. I let the cats in from the night,
 their fur already glossed and warm with March.
 I bring the milk, newspaper, settle here
 in the bay of the window to watch people
 walking to church for Mothering Sunday.
 A choirboy holds his robes over his shoulder.
 The cats jump up on windowsills to wash
 and tremble at the starlings. Like peaty water
 sun slowly fills the long brown room.
 Opening the paper I admit to this
 the water-shriek and starved stare
 of a warning I can't name. 
 
 
 By Gillian Clarke
 from Letter from a Far Country (1982) 

Cyncoed is a community in the north of the city of Cardiff, capital of Wales. Located to the north east of the city, Cyncoed is one of the most affluent suburbs of Cardiff. It has some of the highest property prices in Wales. Cyncoed is a short distance from the city centre and boasts beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. It is also just a short walk from the well known Roath Park.

Song (I choose white but with red) by R. S. Thomas

I choose white, but with

Red on it, like the snow

In winter with its few

Holly berries and the one

 

Robin, that is a fire

To warm by and like Christ

Comes to us in his weakness,

but with a sharp

song.

 

By R. S. Thomas

from  H’m (1972)