On “Croeso Laugharne”

with John Stocks

A contributor asks about John Stocks’ “Croeso Laugharne”:

Just from the title I sensed a Celt and had to read it.
I enjoyed the poem, but one question: Why wouldn’t you go back?

John replies:

It was a spur of the moment, creative decision but one that I will stick with, aptly suffused with a Celtic melancholy, which is a feature of my poetry.

I am a huge Dylan Thomas fan, but the only way I will return to Laugharne is in the unlikely event that I am invited to read there. I felt that my impressions of the place would resonate more if I knew that it was a final pilgrimage of sorts, and I think it worked in that respect.

The images recorded in the poem are vivid in my imagination, although I am not sure that they are adequately captured in the poem, which is satisfactory but not exceptional. I will probably return to the subject, and possibly the poem, again.