Book Review: Chwarter Eiliad by Jo Heyde

We continue our reviews of books shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year award for 2026. This time we consider one of the titles in the Welsh language Poetry category

Ant Evans

Initially, I must admit to having been confused by the title of Jo Heyde’s first volume of poetry. “Chwarter Eiliad” translated to “a Quarter of a Second”.

“Surely the reader isn’t expected to get through this collection in a quarter of a second?” I ask myself. However, I soon learned whilst reading the synopsis that the title refers to the flash of inspiration which strikes and inspires a poem.

The reader comes to learn a fair bit about the poet in the foreword to Chwarter Eiliad. Here, we gain an insight to the importance of the commitment to the creative process to her, and how mastering the Welsh language and cynghanedd has taken Jo Heyde on a journey beyond all expectation.

Heyde tells us that it might seem strange that she feels as though Welsh and cynghanedd have always been a part of her life when her journey with both only began comparatively recently (towards the end of 2018 in the case of learning Welsh, and 2021 in the case of poetry written in cynghanedd) and with her not having any connection to Wales, being originally to London.

But as Heyde points out “you know when you know” and she most certainly knew. The reader is also informed how grateful the poet is, both for her ability to speak Welsh, as well as the very warm welcome she’s received from people and their kindness towards her throughout her journey.

In Chwarter Eiliad, the reader comes to get to know Jo Heyde rather well indeed, the poems outlining her life’s experiences from an early age, memories, things she has seen and sensed, as well as responses to pieces of literature which she has read. In summing up her personality to the reader, the poet tells us she’s “intuitive”. And it is this intuition which drives her to compose poetry.

So, where do we begin with the initial poem? Amgyffred (Imagine) is a response to a short novel, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach:

Gwylia’r wybr a golau’r hwyr,
a daw’r eiliad i’r wylan
godi o’r heli i’r haul,
ar dân i euro adenydd,
er dilyn trywydd unig,
â i deml ble caiff deimlo
byd uwch na bywyd achau,
a’r gwayw a ddeillia o’r gwir.

Watching the sky and the evening light,
and the time had come for the gull
to rise from the salt water towards the sun,
keen to adorn wings with gold,
though following a lonely path,
the gull goes to a temple to feel
a higher world than the life of lineage,
and the lance originating from the truth.

Senses

As can be seen here, one common thread in this collection is how the reader’s senses are engaged. Another poem, Mr Kitzberger y Cemist (Mr Kitzberger the Chemist) is a very visual poem, whilst also engaging the reader’s sense of taste. This also strikes the reader as being a childhood memory, these being a golden thread throughout this volume:

Sbectol gron
y moelni chwyslyd,
ac aroglau llethol
Germolene;

trio dyfalu pa flas
fyddai’r moddion…

meddus-ryddhad
‘ta oren-crychu-llygaid,
a dychmygu’r llwy’n
gwthio i’m ceg,
a’r driblo bwriadol
i gael gwarad arno;

fy llygaid
yn chwim-sganio’r silffoedd,
a’m perfedd yn gwingo
wrth imi weld
y gelyn Kaolin
a’r hanner brown, hanner gwyn
yn gadael adflas sur
ar y bore

Round glasses
And sweaty baldness,
And the overwhelming scent of
Germolene;

trying to guess which flavour
the medicine would be…

strawberry-relief
or grimace-inducing orange,
and imagining the spoon being
pushed into my mouth,
and the intentional dribbling
to get rid of it;

my eyes
rapidly-scan the shelves,
my heart sinks as I spot
the dreaded Kaolin
and the half-brown half-white
leaves a sour aftertaste
to the morning.

Birds

In addition to childhood memories, birds are an important part of Chwarter Eiliad. Gwenoliaid (Swallows) stands out as a favourite, mainly due to the visual nature of the poem:

Dyma Mai’n gwasgaru
siapau origami
i’r wybren-bapur-sidan,
ei neges wib yn glanio’n
ddotiau a strociau
ar sigl gwifren deligraff;
edrychaf i fyny,
a’r golau wedi
siswrn-dorri
trwy doily deiliog
hanner eiliad…
a’r newyddion yn glir…
mae’r haf wedi cyrraedd.

Look at May scattering
origami shapes
to the tissue-paper-sky,
its swift message landing
in dots and dashes
on the shaking telegraph wire;
I look up,
and the light
cut up
through a leaf patterned doily
half a second…
and the news is clear…
summer has arrived.

Chwarter Eiliad is a fantastic first volume of poetry, which offers a real window into the life and experiences of Jo Heyde. Though this reviewer was a young child when I learned Welsh, the way Heyde has mastered both Welsh and cynghanedd (very much its own language as she points out) is something I greatly admire.

I’m very much looking forward to reading future volumes of her work, and highly recommend Chwarter Eiliad.

Chwarter Eiliad by Jo Heyde is published by Barddas and is available from all good bookshops.