Menna Elfyn is one of the foremost Welsh-language writers. As well as being an award-winning poet, she has published plays, libretti and children’s novels, and co-edited The Bloodaxe Book of Modern Welsh Poetry (2003) with John Rowlands.Her books include two bilingual selections, Eucalyptus: Detholiad o Gerddi / Selected Poems 1978-1994 (Gomer Press, 1995), and Perfect Blemish: New & Selected Poems / Perffaith Nam: Dau Ddetholiad & Cherddi Newydd 1995-2007 (Bloodaxe Books, 2007), a Welsh-only selection Merch Perygl: Cerddi 1976-2011 (Gomer Press, 2011), and two later bilingual collections from Bloodaxe, Murmur (2012), a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation, and Bondo (2017). Parch (2025) is Menna Elfyn’s sixth poetry book from Bloodaxe. For the first time in this collection, she has written many of the poems direct into English, and translated some of them herself.Optimist Absoliwt: Cofiant Eluned Phillips, her biography of the poet Eluned Phillips, was published (in Welsh) in 2016, and Cwsg: am dro yn ôl, a book about sleep illustrated by Sarah Williams, in 2019, both from Gomer Press. Her most recent Welsh language collection, Tosturi (Mercy), with illustrations by Meinir Mathias (Cyhoeddiadau Barddas, 2022), was shortlisted for the 2023 Welsh-language Wales Book of the Year Poetry Award. When not travelling the world for readings and residencies, she lives in Carmarthen. She was Wales’s National Children’s Laureate in 2002, and was made President of Wales PEN Cymru in 2014. She was, until 2016, Creative Director in the School of Cultural Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David; she is also Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing. She won a Cholmondeley Award in 2022, a prize which recognises a poet's body of work.

• 11 Rhagair | Preface [I ]14 Mercy [EB]19 Gwen [EB]22 Given to Legend [EB]25 Marged Glyndŵr [EB]26 End Note [ME]*28 Wedi’r glaw | After the Rain [ME]30 Fermenting – Eples [ME]32 Silk in Mind [EB]33 Female Genitals: Camfflabats [ME](translated from original Welsh by Gwerful Mechain) [II]37 Stones [ME]*41 Marbled Men [EB]43 A Ukrainian Mother [ME]*44 Horse Chestnut tree in Uppsala [ME]*45 In Solus and Out [ME]*46 Gauze in Gaza [ME]*47 Identity [ME]*49 Nine for Peace [RM]51 Queue [ME]*52 Peacemakers [ME]*(translated from the original Welsh by Waldo Williams) [III]57 Parch [ME]*59 Amen – Amin [EB]61 H’m – Humming [EB]62 No Palm Sunday [ME]*64 Flower Rota for Sunday [ME]*66 On my way to Albany, NY [JPC]68 St Patrick of Banwen [EB]70 St Govan, Pembrokeshire [GC]71 Salvation [EB]74 Y Goeden Ellyg, Y Mans, Pontardawe | The Pear Tree, The Manse, Pontardawe [ME]76 Storm in Brooklyn Subway [ME]*77 Keeping Company [IV]81 Water [EB]83 Clap [ME]*84 A Sheepish Poem [ME]*86 Brexit Blues [ME]*88 Old Language, New [EB]89 Song of a voiceless person to BT [RST] [V]93 Last Gilt [EB]95 Barn Owl [GC]96 Workhouse Pigeons [EB]98 Sardinian’s Dream [EB]. 99 The Gift of Giving Way [EB]. 101 Three poems to Ilhan Sami Çomak101 1 The Piper [ME]*101 2 Wild Ponies [EB]104 3 Rowan [EB]104 Snowdrops in November [ME]*105 Henrhyd Falls, Coelbren [EB]107 Honey Moon [EB]109 Humming with Mam [EB]111 Nursing Shawl [EB]112 At Dylan Thomas’s Boathouse [ME]*113 Dylan’s Parch [ME]*114 Merch y Gweinidog: Minister’s daughter [ME] 123 Biographical notes TRANSLATORSEB: Emma BainesJPC: Joseph P. ClancyGC: Gillian ClarkeME: Menna ElfynME:* Menna Elfyn (written in English)RM: Robert MinhinnickRST: R.S. Thomas

Menna Elfyn is a major figure in contemporary Welsh poetry, writing exclusively in Welsh. A true internationalist, her work has been translated into over eighteen languages. Her most recent bilingual collections in Welsh and English are published by Bloodaxe. Elfyn writes about the intimate and every day, the natural world and about women’s experiences, always able to transform her awareness of the small, and the beautiful, to the affective and often, then, the political. Her voice is challenging and compassionate by turn, unafraid of joy, and full of the energies of community, offering through the power of language, truth, consolation, and possibility.

Menna Elfyn is one of the foremost Welsh-language writers. As well as being an award-winning poet, she has published plays, libretti and children’s novels, and co-edited The Bloodaxe Book of Modern Welsh Poetry (2003) with John Rowlands.Her books include two bilingual selections, Eucalyptus: Detholiad o Gerddi / Selected Poems 1978-1994 (Gomer Press, 1995), and Perfect Blemish: New & Selected Poems / Perffaith Nam: Dau Ddetholiad & Cherddi Newydd 1995-2007 (Bloodaxe Books, 2007), a Welsh-only selection Merch Perygl: Cerddi 1976-2011 (Gomer Press, 2011), and two later bilingual collections from Bloodaxe, Murmur (2012), a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation, and Bondo (2017). Parch (2025) is Menna Elfyn’s sixth poetry book from Bloodaxe. For the first time in this collection, she has written many of the poems direct into English, and translated some of them herself.Optimist Absoliwt: Cofiant Eluned Phillips, her biography of the poet Eluned Phillips, was published (in Welsh) in 2016, and Cwsg: am dro yn ôl, a book about sleep illustrated by Sarah Williams, in 2019, both from Gomer Press. Her most recent Welsh language collection, Tosturi (Mercy), with illustrations by Meinir Mathias (Cyhoeddiadau Barddas, 2022), was shortlisted for the 2023 Welsh-language Wales Book of the Year Poetry Award. When not travelling the world for readings and residencies, she lives in Carmarthen. She was Wales’s National Children’s Laureate in 2002, and was made President of Wales PEN Cymru in 2014. She was, until 2016, Creative Director in the School of Cultural Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David; she is also Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing. She won a Cholmondeley Award in 2022, a prize which recognises a poet's body of work.

• 11 Rhagair | Preface [I ]14 Mercy [EB]19 Gwen [EB]22 Given to Legend [EB]25 Marged Glyndŵr [EB]26 End Note [ME]*28 Wedi’r glaw | After the Rain [ME]30 Fermenting – Eples [ME]32 Silk in Mind [EB]33 Female Genitals: Camfflabats [ME](translated from original Welsh by Gwerful Mechain) [II]37 Stones [ME]*41 Marbled Men [EB]43 A Ukrainian Mother [ME]*44 Horse Chestnut tree in Uppsala [ME]*45 In Solus and Out [ME]*46 Gauze in Gaza [ME]*47 Identity [ME]*49 Nine for Peace [RM]51 Queue [ME]*52 Peacemakers [ME]*(translated from the original Welsh by Waldo Williams) [III]57 Parch [ME]*59 Amen – Amin [EB]61 H’m – Humming [EB]62 No Palm Sunday [ME]*64 Flower Rota for Sunday [ME]*66 On my way to Albany, NY [JPC]68 St Patrick of Banwen [EB]70 St Govan, Pembrokeshire [GC]71 Salvation [EB]74 Y Goeden Ellyg, Y Mans, Pontardawe | The Pear Tree, The Manse, Pontardawe [ME]76 Storm in Brooklyn Subway [ME]*77 Keeping Company [IV]81 Water [EB]83 Clap [ME]*84 A Sheepish Poem [ME]*86 Brexit Blues [ME]*88 Old Language, New [EB]89 Song of a voiceless person to BT [RST] [V]93 Last Gilt [EB]95 Barn Owl [GC]96 Workhouse Pigeons [EB]98 Sardinian’s Dream [EB]. 99 The Gift of Giving Way [EB]. 101 Three poems to Ilhan Sami Çomak101 1 The Piper [ME]*101 2 Wild Ponies [EB]104 3 Rowan [EB]104 Snowdrops in November [ME]*105 Henrhyd Falls, Coelbren [EB]107 Honey Moon [EB]109 Humming with Mam [EB]111 Nursing Shawl [EB]112 At Dylan Thomas’s Boathouse [ME]*113 Dylan’s Parch [ME]*114 Merch y Gweinidog: Minister’s daughter [ME] 123 Biographical notes TRANSLATORSEB: Emma BainesJPC: Joseph P. ClancyGC: Gillian ClarkeME: Menna ElfynME:* Menna Elfyn (written in English)RM: Robert MinhinnickRST: R.S. Thomas

Menna Elfyn is a major figure in contemporary Welsh poetry, writing exclusively in Welsh. A true internationalist, her work has been translated into over eighteen languages. Her most recent bilingual collections in Welsh and English are published by Bloodaxe. Elfyn writes about the intimate and every day, the natural world and about women’s experiences, always able to transform her awareness of the small, and the beautiful, to the affective and often, then, the political. Her voice is challenging and compassionate by turn, unafraid of joy, and full of the energies of community, offering through the power of language, truth, consolation, and possibility.

Menna Elfyn is one of the foremost Welsh-language writers. As well as being an award-winning poet, she has published plays, libretti and children’s novels, and co-edited The Bloodaxe Book of Modern Welsh Poetry (2003) with John Rowlands.Her books include two bilingual selections, Eucalyptus: Detholiad o Gerddi / Selected Poems 1978-1994 (Gomer Press, 1995), and Perfect Blemish: New & Selected Poems / Perffaith Nam: Dau Ddetholiad & Cherddi Newydd 1995-2007 (Bloodaxe Books, 2007), a Welsh-only selection Merch Perygl: Cerddi 1976-2011 (Gomer Press, 2011), and two later bilingual collections from Bloodaxe, Murmur (2012), a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation, and Bondo (2017). Parch (2025) is Menna Elfyn’s sixth poetry book from Bloodaxe. For the first time in this collection, she has written many of the poems direct into English, and translated some of them herself.Optimist Absoliwt: Cofiant Eluned Phillips, her biography of the poet Eluned Phillips, was published (in Welsh) in 2016, and Cwsg: am dro yn ôl, a book about sleep illustrated by Sarah Williams, in 2019, both from Gomer Press. Her most recent Welsh language collection, Tosturi (Mercy), with illustrations by Meinir Mathias (Cyhoeddiadau Barddas, 2022), was shortlisted for the 2023 Welsh-language Wales Book of the Year Poetry Award. When not travelling the world for readings and residencies, she lives in Carmarthen. She was Wales’s National Children’s Laureate in 2002, and was made President of Wales PEN Cymru in 2014. She was, until 2016, Creative Director in the School of Cultural Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David; she is also Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing. She won a Cholmondeley Award in 2022, a prize which recognises a poet's body of work.

• 11 Rhagair | Preface [I ]14 Mercy [EB]19 Gwen [EB]22 Given to Legend [EB]25 Marged Glyndŵr [EB]26 End Note [ME]*28 Wedi’r glaw | After the Rain [ME]30 Fermenting – Eples [ME]32 Silk in Mind [EB]33 Female Genitals: Camfflabats [ME](translated from original Welsh by Gwerful Mechain) [II]37 Stones [ME]*41 Marbled Men [EB]43 A Ukrainian Mother [ME]*44 Horse Chestnut tree in Uppsala [ME]*45 In Solus and Out [ME]*46 Gauze in Gaza [ME]*47 Identity [ME]*49 Nine for Peace [RM]51 Queue [ME]*52 Peacemakers [ME]*(translated from the original Welsh by Waldo Williams) [III]57 Parch [ME]*59 Amen – Amin [EB]61 H’m – Humming [EB]62 No Palm Sunday [ME]*64 Flower Rota for Sunday [ME]*66 On my way to Albany, NY [JPC]68 St Patrick of Banwen [EB]70 St Govan, Pembrokeshire [GC]71 Salvation [EB]74 Y Goeden Ellyg, Y Mans, Pontardawe | The Pear Tree, The Manse, Pontardawe [ME]76 Storm in Brooklyn Subway [ME]*77 Keeping Company [IV]81 Water [EB]83 Clap [ME]*84 A Sheepish Poem [ME]*86 Brexit Blues [ME]*88 Old Language, New [EB]89 Song of a voiceless person to BT [RST] [V]93 Last Gilt [EB]95 Barn Owl [GC]96 Workhouse Pigeons [EB]98 Sardinian’s Dream [EB]. 99 The Gift of Giving Way [EB]. 101 Three poems to Ilhan Sami Çomak101 1 The Piper [ME]*101 2 Wild Ponies [EB]104 3 Rowan [EB]104 Snowdrops in November [ME]*105 Henrhyd Falls, Coelbren [EB]107 Honey Moon [EB]109 Humming with Mam [EB]111 Nursing Shawl [EB]112 At Dylan Thomas’s Boathouse [ME]*113 Dylan’s Parch [ME]*114 Merch y Gweinidog: Minister’s daughter [ME] 123 Biographical notes TRANSLATORSEB: Emma BainesJPC: Joseph P. ClancyGC: Gillian ClarkeME: Menna ElfynME:* Menna Elfyn (written in English)RM: Robert MinhinnickRST: R.S. Thomas

Menna Elfyn is a major figure in contemporary Welsh poetry, writing exclusively in Welsh. A true internationalist, her work has been translated into over eighteen languages. Her most recent bilingual collections in Welsh and English are published by Bloodaxe. Elfyn writes about the intimate and every day, the natural world and about women’s experiences, always able to transform her awareness of the small, and the beautiful, to the affective and often, then, the political. Her voice is challenging and compassionate by turn, unafraid of joy, and full of the energies of community, offering through the power of language, truth, consolation, and possibility.