Poetry on Sunday: Mineral Wealth by Mel Perry

We begin a series in which the Llansteffan-based poet Mel Perry explores roots, family and belonging in her poetry.

Family Trees

I notice staccato

actions of a carpenter

learning to handle

his material

as he routs questions

from his heartwood.

I too am chipping,

chiselling, seeking

the stoic in me.

I find hardship, sacrifice,

 leadership, service

in their xylem.

I’m wondering

where the rot

and worm

of judgement

took hold in me.

Our stories cannot be planed,

sanded, polished.

There are knots in our grain,

twists in our timber,

splinters that fall,

catch us,

rise in all our saps.

Family Trees

‘Family Trees’ is the first poem in my collection Mineral Wealth which explores the significance of my maternal grandparents who lived and worked across Wales in the early 20th century.  The poem was written in response to a poem by my friend and creative collaborator, Tim Buescher, from the East Riding of Yorkshire.

We have been exchanging our poems of family history, and Tim’s poem ‘Sounds Familiar’ landed with me at the right time in my own process.  His metaphors for the process of writing into his families resonated strongly with me and seeded Family Trees.

 The process is deeply affecting and I am experiencing the splinters of the past rise in my sap.