Laugharne

Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood was inspired in part by Laugharne.

I woke in the birth of darkest morning
sound of a pony's hooves scraping against granite,

following the forest to a road of open borders
guarded by rooks that thread the castle remains.
I walk on the shill of black air
sills of light like children jumping for a higher shelf,
peaking bright pocket of sun
crowning the morning with the crispy repeats of dew.

Reaching an ivy smouldered cabin
window smeared with an amber moss,

A writing desk leveled to a vista of trickling water
a pen cushioned in age and inkling ash.
A morning in black hoods of clouds
where a moon lights up a castle like a cathedral,
I saw discarded fishing wrecks sleeping in dribbles
simmered by a slow tide of blue and wide sparks.


— MJ Duggan


A native of Bristol UK, MJ Duggan describes himself as an "imagist and a polemicist." His first collection of poetry Making Adjustments for Life Expectancy (Seleer Press) was published in 2014. His poems have also been published in a number of UK literary magazines including Carillon, Magpie's Nest and Roundyhous. He is currently working on two new poetry projects, The Invisible Rebel and Notes from a Dystopian Memoir where Laugharne is expected to appear.