R S Thomas (poet)
@rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
580 followers 4 following 670 posts
famous Welsh poet in English language 1913-2000 “…catching this / one truth by surprise / that there is everything to look forward to…” #RSThomas #poetry #barddoniaeth 📍 yng Nghymru, wrth gwrs facebook.com/groups/RSThomas/
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rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
Diolch yn fawr iawn i Martin Roberts @ffoto.bsky.social am y llun hyfryd ac y gwên! Many thanks for this photo, especially the smile!
Black and white photo of head of smiling elderly man
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘The Bright Field’ - #RSThomas
(Laboratories of the Spirit, Macmillan)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘The Bright Field’ - #RSThomas
(Laboratories of the Spirit, Macmillan)
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
Bu farw Vernon Watkins ar y diwrnod hwn ym 1967. Dyma deyrnged serchog gan fardd Cymreig arall, ei ffrind RS Thomas…
Vernon Watkins died on this day in 1967. Here's an affectionate tribute by another Welsh poet, his friend RS Thomas…
‘The Bank Clerk’ (Uncollected Poems, Bloodaxe Books)
Text of poem -

The Bank Clerk.
It was not the shillings he heard, But the clinking of the waves In the gullies and rocks of Pwll Du. Turning them over To the customers at the counter He offered them the rich change Of his mind, the real coinage Of language for their dry cheques.
Punctually in the evenings At Pennard he returned to The poem's sum, wrestling with it For delight, but with the sea's Care, that on the blank sand Tots itself.
Clerks, businessmen,
Grousers about the cost
Of a poet, he has balanced honourably His accounts, but - what about you?
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
Bu farw Vernon Watkins ar y diwrnod hwn ym 1967. Dyma deyrnged serchog gan fardd Cymreig arall, ei ffrind RS Thomas…
Vernon Watkins died on this day in 1967. Here's an affectionate tribute by another Welsh poet, his friend RS Thomas…
‘The Bank Clerk’ (Uncollected Poems, Bloodaxe Books)
Text of poem -

The Bank Clerk.
It was not the shillings he heard, But the clinking of the waves In the gullies and rocks of Pwll Du. Turning them over To the customers at the counter He offered them the rich change Of his mind, the real coinage Of language for their dry cheques.
Punctually in the evenings At Pennard he returned to The poem's sum, wrestling with it For delight, but with the sea's Care, that on the blank sand Tots itself.
Clerks, businessmen,
Grousers about the cost
Of a poet, he has balanced honourably His accounts, but - what about you?
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘The Bush’ - #RSThomas
(Later Poems, 1972–1982, Macmillan London)
arealmofwonder.bsky.social
This poem made me think of the Jewish community in Britain and Ireland.

(May what can be inferred from the last verse not come to pass.)

R.S. Thomas
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Aleph’ - #RSThomas
(Between Here and Now, Macmillan)
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Aleph’ - #RSThomas
(Between Here and Now, Macmillan)
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘The Bright Field’ - #RSThomas
(Laboratories of the Spirit, Macmillan)
pamelaclemit.bsky.social
R. S. Thomas, ‘The Bright Field’, from Laboratories of the Spirit (1975) #NationalPoetryDay
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Children’s Song’ - #RSThomas (Song at the Year's Turning, Rupert Hart-Davis)
telescoper.bsky.social
The theme for #NationalPoetryDay is #play. So here's Children's Song by R.S. Thomas.
We live in our own world,
A world that is too small
For you to stoop and enter
Even on hands and knees,
The adult subterfuge.
And though you probe and pry
With analytic eye,
And eavesdrop all our talk
With an amused look,
You cannot find the centre
Where we dance, where we play,
Where life is still asleep
Under the closed flower,
Under the smooth shell
Of eggs in the cupped nest
That mock the faded blue
Of your remoter heaven.
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
Hello, if you like #RSThomas then you might be interested in following this Bluesky account @RSThomaspoet, also facebook.com/groups/RSThomas/
- share his poems, quotes, events, info, Q+A, etc.
- and there’s a Society you can join… rsthomaspoetry.co.uk/rs-thomas-me-eldridge-society/
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rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘The Bright Field’ - #RSThomas
(Laboratories of the Spirit, Macmillan)
pamelaclemit.bsky.social
R. S. Thomas, ‘The Bright Field’, from Laboratories of the Spirit (1975) #NationalPoetryDay
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Children’s Song’ - #RSThomas (Song at the Year's Turning, Rupert Hart-Davis)
telescoper.bsky.social
The theme for #NationalPoetryDay is #play. So here's Children's Song by R.S. Thomas.
We live in our own world,
A world that is too small
For you to stoop and enter
Even on hands and knees,
The adult subterfuge.
And though you probe and pry
With analytic eye,
And eavesdrop all our talk
With an amused look,
You cannot find the centre
Where we dance, where we play,
Where life is still asleep
Under the closed flower,
Under the smooth shell
Of eggs in the cupped nest
That mock the faded blue
Of your remoter heaven.
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
michaelcymro.bsky.social
‘I think that maybe…’ - #RSThomas
(from AD in Counterpoint, @BloodaxeBooks)
Text of poem -

I think that maybe I will be a little surer of being a little nearer.
That's all. Eternity is in the understanding
that that little is more than enough.
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Arriving’ - #RSThomas
(Between Here and Now, Macmillan)
#Cyrraedd #Arriving
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem -

Arriving.
A maze, he said, and at the centre the Minotaur
awaits us.
There are turnings
that are no through road to the fearful.
By one I came
travelling it like a gallery of the imagination, pausing to look
at the invisible portraits of brave men.
Their deeds rustled like dry leaves
under my tread.
The scent of them was the dust we throw
in the eyes of the beast.
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Arriving’ - #RSThomas
(Between Here and Now, Macmillan)
#Cyrraedd #Arriving
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem -

Arriving.
A maze, he said, and at the centre the Minotaur
awaits us.
There are turnings
that are no through road to the fearful.
By one I came
travelling it like a gallery of the imagination, pausing to look
at the invisible portraits of brave men.
Their deeds rustled like dry leaves
under my tread.
The scent of them was the dust we throw
in the eyes of the beast.
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
michaelcymro.bsky.social
‘Swallows’ - #RSThomas
(No Truce with the Furies, @BloodaxeBooks)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Lore’ - #RSThomas
(Tares, Rupert Hart-Davis)
stjohnbaptiste.bsky.social
Some #RSThomas while I remember it's been Monday.
Lore

Job Davies, eighty-five
Winters old, and still alive
After the slow poison
And treachery of the seasons.

Miserable? Kick my arse!
It needs more than the rain's hearse,
Wind-drawn, to pull me off
The great perch of my laugh.

What's living but courage?
Paunch full of hot porridge,
Nerves strengthened with tea,
Peat-black, dawn found me

Mowing where the grass grew,
Bearded with golden dew.
Rhythm of the long scythe
Kept this tall frame lithe.

What to do? Stay green.
Never mind the machine,
Whose fuel is human souls.
Live large, man, and dream small.
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Voices’ - #RSThomas
(Between Here and Now, Macmillan
#Lleisiau #Voices
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem -

Voices.
Who to believe?
The linnet sings bell-like, a tinkling music. It says life is contained here; is a jewel
in a shell casket, lying among down. There is another voice, far out in space, whose persuasiveness is the distance
from which it speaks. Divided mind, the message is always in two parts. Must it be on a cross it is made one?
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
‘Voices’ - #RSThomas
(Between Here and Now, Macmillan
#Lleisiau #Voices
#Bardd #Barddoniaeth #Cerdd
#Poet #Poetry #Poem
Text of poem -

Voices.
Who to believe?
The linnet sings bell-like, a tinkling music. It says life is contained here; is a jewel
in a shell casket, lying among down. There is another voice, far out in space, whose persuasiveness is the distance
from which it speaks. Divided mind, the message is always in two parts. Must it be on a cross it is made one?
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
By all accounts this was a wonderful event in Bangor Cathedral on Thursday, marking 25 years since the death of RS Thomas. It included talks, art and photography, beautiful music and of course poetry reading. Here’s a link to a recording of the event: www.youtube.com/live/RbFUoWF...
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
By all accounts this was a wonderful event in Bangor Cathedral on Thursday, marking 25 years since the death of RS Thomas. It included talks, art and photography, beautiful music and of course poetry reading. Here’s a link to a recording of the event: www.youtube.com/live/RbFUoWF...
rsthomaspoet.bsky.social
Yes indeed, it would be good to have the whole of it.
Reposted by R S Thomas (poet)
bobborsley.bsky.social
Today is the 25th anniversary of the death of the great Welsh poet R.S. Thomas. Here, to mark this, is part of his long poem ‘The Minister’. (It would be good to have the whole of it.)
youtu.be/XioxMW7g2UI?...
'The Minister' taster video.
YouTube video by John Whittle
youtu.be