THESE PAGES SING WELSH LITERARY MAGAZINE Helen Cook. Lloyd Edwards. Manda Eliot. Angela Graham. Sheila Jacob. Lesley James. Siân Jones. Elizabeth Lockwood. Nat Phillips. Sue Regan. Eluned Smith. Mair Jones. Rachael Llewellyn. Tess Powell.
SUMMER 2025 | ISSUE 04
THESEPAGESSING.CO.UK
Table of Contents. POETRY
Helen Cook Whitsun Swim Lloyd Edwards One Day of Summer Manda Eliot The tug of Limeslade Angela Graham ON RATHLIN Sheila Jacob Bringing Rhyl Back Home To Birmingham Lesley James Naturist beach, Canary Islands Year 6 Summer Homework Siân Jones Tabancos Bar, Spain Elizabeth Lockwood Barometric Pressure Nat Phillips Sol Invictus Sue Regan That Summer of ‘76 Eluned Smith golden rain
Perry Wyatt Chief Editor Cori SmithPimlott Short Fiction Editor Tom SmithPimlott Cover Designer
SHORT FICTION Mair Jones Ar Lan y Môr - By the Sea Lesley James Scent Uncle Jonny’s Wife Rachael Llewelyn Operator Induction Tess Powell Sweat and Pancakes
WHITSUN SWIM HELEN COOK
A sly sun persuades us to take the steep cliff path to the flat beach. Waiting sea extends its invitation, freshly laundered foam frilling repeated breakers, seaweed tumbling. Undressing clumsily beneath towels, struggling into last year’s costume, we run shrieking into the shallows, our throats gulping in the shock, hands like oars pulling the cold away. Blue is a conniving colour. Bravely we leap the rollers until older brother dips his head, splutters up to be admired. Then the long run back to the rocks veins a purple roadmap beneath skin. With tepid tongue we lick snot and salt away, prise sand from gritted teeth; limp sandwiches and thermosed tea silence our racket of shivering. An all-over tingling of warming up makes us want to go roaring in again.
Helen Cook is a retired teacher who has taken up writing since having the time. She writes poetry mainly, graduated with an MA in Creative Writing in 2023 and has recently had her first collection, A Cloth of Sounds, published. She lives in the Vale of Glamorgan.
ONE DAY OF SUMMER LLOYD EDWARDS
I am lying supine staring at an endlessly blue sky Whisps of clouds float and mingle A distant squabble of children's voices Tossed by the breeze Interrupting this calm Summers day My hands have become wrinkled My fingers feel like seaweed How long have I been lying here? Floating under that blazing Midday star Now slowly being obscured by Cirrus clouds Opaque, darker, generating water. Closing my eyes I try to ignore them. Then a chill air develops that raises tiny hairs on my skin Soon droplets turn to stinging shards Bouncing off my body like silver tears I stand up and wade with a sad resignation towards the beach Turning to witness a flock of Gulls hovering over the water, squabbling like children The mixture of wet and dry sand engulf my feet gradually until they resemble clogs Weighing me down as I retreat to my house Hair matted like rats tails, salt encrusted and dishevelled Nature's enigmatic weather sculpts everything in its path Leaving me to dream selfishly of a cooling bath Where I will revisit my supine position once more
Lloyd works mainly with poetry exploring the many nuances of human nature, including it's psychological and responsive facets.
THE TUG OF LIMESLADE MANDA ELIOT We play the Penny Falls in the amusements clang, slot machines rattling, jangling coins and tinny tunes on Mumbles pier near the spangly walls of Cinderellas, where I danced barefoot in sequinned skirts. You take my hand up the steep hill, cobbles shifting beneath us their rough edges, wet with the breath of the ocean. We climb to the view, where sky breaks into sea and pools of sand rise between jagged crags. The beach is empty, ours. Gulls circle as we clamber across rocks, your bucket fills with pebbles, shells, your laughter on the salt air. We splash in the snatch of the tidal cove, your little jelly shoes are sucked away. Lifted to my shoulder, you ride towards the disappearing beach, backing over stony spears to safety, above the bay. Barefoot, toes clutching the warm grass, we watch the lighthouse blink into the sun.
Manda Eliot is a Carmarthenshire poet who enjoys spoken word events and walks along the Gower. She has been published by Poetry Wales, Dreich, ASP Literary Journal and Panoply.