Ymson ar draeth
mewn ymateb i Shipwreck a The Fisherman's Return gan Brenda Chamberlain, ac ar ôl 'Galarnad Cwch Enlli'
Cyn inni’u codi nhw – y pedwar
ddaeth i’r lan yn hallt a gwyn
a mynd â nhw’n un rhes i fyny’r allt
i’w hadnabod a’u glanhau, gorau medrwn,
dwi’n dal rhyw obaith (ffôl, mi wn) y byddan nhw’n
cofio am funud nad fel hyn oedd heddiw i fod
o gwbl, ac y byddan nhw – y talpiau cnawd – yn
llithro’n oer o’r graig, yn syllu drwyddan ni
ac yn taflu’u cyrff llarpiedig ’nôl i’r bae;
y cawn eu gwylio nhw’n pellhau, brath
pob sylweddoliad yn llacio’n araf
wrth i’r cyntaf o’r capiau coch
ddiflannu dros ein gorwel; ac yn y pellter,
hithau’r cwch, yn ail-lestreiddio
fesul tamaid ar wyneb ton
nes ei bod yn gyflawn, gywrain, yn gwahodd
yr hogiau i neidio’n wyllt o’r dŵr,
eu siwmperi tew yn sychu’n grimp
a’r braw yn toddi o’u hwynebau
wrth iddi godi’n braf ac
wrth iddyn nhw daflu’r pysgod yn eu holau
a’r rheiny’n ail-loywi, yn ail-fywiocáu
wrth daro’r ewyn, y rhwydi’n
codi’n lân ac yn ailblygu ar y pren;
rhyw obaith (ffôl, mi wn) y poerant eu
brechdanau caws o’u cegau
a’u hail-lapio’n dyner yn eu sgwariau papur
yn barod at gynnau, cyn troi’r cwch
yn ôl tua’r bore bach a’r plant
sydd eto yn eu gwlâu, yn deall dim.
Ymson ar draeth (Monologue on a beach)
These two pieces by Brenda Chamberlain have such different stories to tell and yet the realities they depict are so close to one another – two outcomes to the daily work of fishing the waters around Ynys Enlli. I was fascinated by the idea of the time between the event and its discovery – if there was no physical evidence or awareness of the tragedy that had occurred in 'Shipwreck', the possibility that the fishermen might return safely could be believed, a suspension of reality. The poem is in reverse, as the pale bodies flung onto the rocks throw themselves back into the waves, swim out to a re-emerging vessel, drop fish into the sea and head home to dawn and sleeping children.
Iestyn Tyne was raised on Llŷn and now lives and works in Caernarfon. He's a writer, musician, translator and artist. He's one of the founding members of Cylchgrawn a Chyhoeddiadau'r Stamp, a Welsh language independent, voluntary and cooperative publishing house. He has performed his work across Wales and beyond, including a recent tour to India as part of the UK-India Eco Poetry Project. He won the Crown at the Urdd Eisteddfod in 2016, and the Chair in 2019, being the only winner of both main literature prizes in the Urdd Eisteddfod. He was the first Poet in Residence at the National Eisteddfod from 2019 to 2023. He co-authored Robyn (Y Lolfa, 2021) with Leo Drayton, in the Y Pump series of novels for young people, and is a co-editor for Welsh [Plural] (Repeater, 2022), the collection of essays about the future of Wales. His recent collection of poetry, Stafelloedd Amhenodol (Cyhoeddiadau’r Stamp, 2021) reached the shortlist of Wales Book of the Year in 2022, and a translation of the collection Unspecified Spaces (Broken Sleep Books, 2023) was published recently. His latest pamphlet of poems Dysgu Nofio (Cyhoeddiadau’r Stamp, 2023), and Iestyn is one of the Future Wales Fellows 2023-25.
