Natalie Merchant: Motherland. Bath Forum 11/11/2023

Later Than Laugharne.

I had a text from my friend Sian this morning, ‘Come over to mine, bring some wine and sandwiches’. I needed to get out of the house, so went to the supermarket and then the bus stop where I found there was no bus for an hour, so I got a taxi to Sian’s house in Warminster. I noticed how wonderful the trees looked at this time of year, and it felt good to get out and about. After a pleasant few hours at Sian’s I decided to head home before dark. At the bus stop I found it was 18 minutes until my bus back to Westbury. To pass the time I walked across the road to the Blue Cross charity shop and had a mooch through the second-hand books. Most of them were the usual rubbish you come across, but just as I was losing interest, I noticed this slim volume of poetry called Later Than Laugharne by Aeronwy Thomas- Ellis. It was a first edition of her first book of poems from 1976, and also a signed copy. Aeronwy was the only daughter of Dylan Thomas, probably the greatest Welsh person of the 20^th century. There are photos of Aeronwy on the front and back covers in which you can see the resemblance to Dylan.

I was especially pleased to find this book because its title immediately took me back more than 50 years to January 1973. I was in my final year at Teacher Training College. It was during final teaching practice, and I should have been studying, but me and three friends went to Tenby for the weekend. We visited nearby Laugharne and Dylan’s house which was called The Boathouse. It was a weekend that I’ve never forgotten. Anyway, I thought the book was a bargain for £4.00, So I paid the lady and made my way back to the bus stop. I read a few of the poems on my way home and liked them very much indeed. You can’t detect any influence of her genius father in the words, there is no imagery like ‘starless and bible black’, instead the words are simple and sparse, as if unnecessary words have been thrown away. They have a kind of Zen-like simplicity. The poems actually reminded me slightly of another poet I admire called Gary Snyder.

When I got home I looked up Aeronwy on Wikipedia and found out that she sadly passed away in 2009 aged 66. Finding this book today was a reminder to me of how much I used to enjoy book hunting for rare editions. I had my own little online bookshop; I don’t think I made any money out of it but found some very nice books. On the bus on the way home I resolved to get back into my book dealing because everyone needs a hobby and an interest don’t they, especially when you are my age and have lots of spare time. I’ll let you know when I find some more interesting books. Cheers.

PS, I added a video of Van Morrison singing For Mr Thomas below if you want to hear it.

Van Morrison - For Mr. Thomas