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Rhwng Gwibdaith a Coldplay

The title of Rhwng Gwibdaith a Coldplay alludes to a particular poem that relates the experiences of a teenager seeking to find her way in the world, a meaningful path between two extremes epitomised by the international supergroup Coldplay and the Blaenau Ffestiniog-based Gwibdaith Hen Frân. Put in prosaic terms, they represent the tensions between the global and the local as an unavoidable feature of contemporary existence. Firmly located within current lived experience, 'Arddegyn' is characteristic of the 60 individual pieces that make up the collection: they seek to explore personal and political themes and the interactions between them. Therefore in terms of subject-matter, the collection builds upon the work contained within Cydio'n Dynn (RAE 2001) and Tafarn Tawelwch (RAE 2008). However the word 'pieces' is applied intentionally: having been written during the eight years between 2003 and 2011, a constant preoccupation during their composition has been with a heightened awareness of the varied possibilities of form. Whilst a number of poems employ regular metrical patterns, others are written in vers libre, and a number of them appear as examples of flash fiction or prose poems. Several pieces seek to exploit the creative potential located in the grey area between what is deemed as Poetry on the one hand and Prose on the other. And part of the underlying intellectual curiosity relates to the question: are there distinct and identifiable boundaries between both poles? Another consideration when constructing the volume relates to its structure and organisation. Much thought has been given to the order of the individual pieces, e.g. should they be grouped thematically or arranged chronologically? It was eventually decided to opt for a more novel alphabetical arrangement, i.e. according to individual titles, and this has led to often unexpected synergies between different pieces.