Poetry on Sunday: Mapping

We continue the series in which the Llansteffan-based poet Mel Perry explores her roots and family connections with place.

Mapping

I trace the coalfield’s kidney shape.

As my geography teacher taught me,

ink in the coast and colour the sea blue.

I ink from Mumbles, Aberavon

to Kenfig. My right hand draws

the pen eastwards past Porthcawl,

Nash and Lavernock to

the dock-mingle of Ely and Taff.

ink in the coast and colour the sea.

I colour the Bristol Channel blue.

My eyes and mind are drawn north,

to the edge ridged with clusters of moor grass,

green in spring and summer, black in winter,

ink in the coast and colour the sea blue.

I dot the mines in red, like poppies.

My mother was born in Ystradgynlais in 1926 and her parents came from Pengam in the Rhymney Valley, both from families whose work was linked with coal mining. My grandfather, William Morgan Thomas, was a mining engineer. His work focused on health and safety in mining, particularly research into the impact of dust on miners’ health and measures to prevent and mitigate dust damage. My growing up in Pembrokeshire was very different from that of my grandparents’ families, but I have always felt drawn to the south Wales coalfield and this was strengthened by my geography teacher in secondary school.