Mike Jenkins - Welsh Poet & Author
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Welcome to your new teacher...Mr Slade!

10/27/2014

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Picture
Photo - Jon Candy

   Being a good football manager is like being a good teacher.
   You can get all the top grades at school, go on to Uni and achieve a doctorate, be an expert on some esoteric field of study and still might not be able to communicate all that intricate knowledge.
   Let's take the case of Mr Solskjaer, a highly-accomplished performer with a very impressive CV : all the necessary honours.
   Not only that but a likeable man, who came over well at the interview, enough to impress Chair of Governors Mr Tan (a ruthless businessman), even though he now denies having anything to do with the appointment.....because Mr Solskjaer's reign in the classroom was a complete disaster!
   The pupils /players looked as if they were eating crisps and drinking coke during every lesson.
   They were lethargic,over-weight and couldn't concentrate for the full period.
   Mr Solskjaer knew his subject from back to front and inside out, but made it far too complicated for them.
   Every lesson he changed topic and there was no consistency to his planning or delivery.
   Understandably the players/pupils were baffled.
   On the board he displayed the tactics,but it might as well have been hieroglyphics.
   He explained the formations in complex mathematical formulae full of 4-3-3s , 4-1-4-1s and 4-2-3-1s.
   The pupil/players had no confidence in him and so, none in themselves to perform well. 
   When it came to producing work, they dallied and dithered. Everyone classed them as 'failures', even though they were supposed to be top set.
   Despite the man's affability, the Chair of Governors asked Solskjaer to leave and he was eventually replaced by Mr Slade, after two supply teachers had filled in.
  Mr Young,one of the supplies,had been at the school/club for many years and did such a good job that he was appointed Slade's assistant.
   Now Mr Slade had taught elsewhere for many years, in tougher schools which were considered second rate compared to Cardiff City High.
   All the pupils joked about him before he was appointed, calling him 'Noddy' after the lead singer of the band Slade and quipping that they wouldn't be judging him till 'IT'S CHRISTMAS!'
   Mr Slade sported a bald head  and a beer belly and was hardly a Mr Mourinho figure ( Head of the high-flying Chelsea Academy).
   However, he put his foot down straight away, giving them extra work and demanding first class work at all times.
   He kept it simple and straightforward and always explained things clearly. He had never excelled himself at school or college but understood that, given confidence, his players/pupils had the potential to do great things.
   Quite quickly they responded, though of course there were serious setbacks, as there are with any learning process. They respected this rather burly figure, who showed so much passion and wasn't afraid to be blunt.
   The class was like a team which was winning games and gradually climbing up the league.
   In fact, the class is Cardiff City and our new manager Russell Slade has made just this kind of impact, even if our defeat against Millwall was disappointing.
   From being a shambolic set of individuals, lost and clueless, we are actually playing as a team with spirit, fitness and organisation.
  It remains to be seen if this is enough, but I am cautiously optimistic.
   Slade resembles a good teacher....in fact, he was one before he went into football management!

  The following poem is written from the viewpoint of an ex-hooligan, but is based on a true incident.  
   Football has changed dramatically over the last decade and become much more of a family sport.
   We mix with the away fans quite happily at the station after the games and  Cardiff City - once possessing a very bad reputation - was actually the best club in the Premier last season when it came to arrests.



                           BARD  MEMREE


Seen im at-a ground,
the Merthyr speed king.


I knew im well
from the ol Soul Crew dayz.


Now I got a famlee, settled down,
take my son to-a games.


Twice ee'd bin sent down,
drugs and GBH I bleeve.


'Wha's appnin but!' ee sayz
jest like we wuz young agen.


Could see is eyes wide
an glarin; ee wuz on pins.


We shared stories of firms
and Feds, always the fightin.


Member when he got taken in
f settin fire to-a Union Jack in-a Den.


On-a train back ome, in Cardiff
I yeard it kickin offf.


Im alone takin on Ipswich fans
an securitee flung im off.


On-a platform, surrounded by cops;
bard memree, as we left im be'ind.

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STRANGE  VISITOR

10/19/2014

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In the midst of pots and food,
above the whir of oven's hood
a tip-tapping sharp and hard.




At the French windows, so close,
a visitor to our house, stranger
from the land of grain, my youth.




Rare pheasant, tame at my sight,
perhaps befriending a reflection,
strutting the patio, raised head curious.




'Adopt it !' my son had  suggested
though he , no doubt, would say fair game,
thinking of sauces and fattening.




She stepped the stone as if on ice,
once lying down like it was a nest ;
for hours beaking on glass, obsessed.




With the darkening evening, gone.
Pictures a proof it was not delirium,
no messenger from barley-fields once known. 
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WELSH FOOTBALL - EMBRACE OUR NATIONAL SPORT!

10/12/2014

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      Owner of Cardiff City FC Vincent Tan has a phone conversation with his personal advisor :-

P.A. (on work experience at CCS, painting walls) - Uncle Vinnie.....I've heard there's a big game on Friday and it's almost a sell out!
VT - What? Nobody tells me anything. And the new manager just appointed.
PA - Yes, and I have very good news for you. You know your new red-seater stand where nobody normally goes?
VT - Yes, yes!
PA - It will be full and , what's more, all the fans will be wearing red!
VT - My boy, this is marvellous!.....it must be the influence of Slade.
PA - Yes, I love their songs, especially the Christmas ones, didn't know they were doing a concert.....
VT - Enough of that, you sound like a 'Western Mail' reporter. Tell me more, good boy.
PA - Well, the dragon will be displayed everywhere and we will have one of the best players in the world playing for us.
VT - Not Etien Velikonja at last?
PA - No, a local Cardiff boy called Bale.
VT - Never heard of him. Did we sign him on loan? Slade is a magician!
PA - No. Just one problem Uncle Vinnie. We will now be called Wales.
VT - I like it.....that means the whole country will support us, even Swansea fans , and I get to hug the big dragon mascot.
PA - You must turn up for this one and wear your best red shirt.
VT - Who are we playing?
PA - Bosnia- Herzegovina.
VT - Don't I own them as well?
PA - I don't think so, Uncle Vinnie.... they play in blue!

   Something truly remarkable happened last Friday at the Cardiff City stadium.
   No, I don't mean the Wales footie team drew 0-0 with Bosnia to maintain their unbeaten record in the Euro qualifiers.
   I mean the fact that over 30,000 fans turned up (over 2,000 Bosnians, of course) and the atmosphere was simply the best I can recall since....well, actually, I can't remember.....probably v. England at the Millennium.
  Though, in a way, this was better as a smaller ground generates that much more intensity and passion and the Bosnian fans were great, bopping up and down and chanting throughout.
   A beautiful mistake, I thought I'd ordered tickets for my usual Ninian Stand, but had them for the standing section of the Canton instead.
   I love standing. It took me back to the days of the old , wooden Grange End when I first starting following the Bluebirds : chanting, singing and ranting at the referee.
   (The fact that a single spark from fag or match could have sent the whole thing up in flames like the dreadful Bradford disaster doesn't extinguish my nostalgia).
   The truth is (as I've blogged before) football and not rugby is our national sport.
   Rugby internationals may attract a lot more fans, yet there are whole swathes of Cymru which have no interest in it.
  A lot of the Welsh-speaking north-west, such as Caernarfon and Bangor, as well as the north-east like Wrecsam all have much stronger footie traditions. Growing up in Aberystwyth even, it was football not rugby we played on street and park.
  Rugby's areas of support come predominantly from the south, stretching from Carmarthen to Newport: it is a south Wales rather than national sport.
   If our football team actually managed to qualify for a major tournament, I predict that the support would be unprecedented and come from the four corners of the country, as it did last Friday.
   Swansea's Premier League success and the Bluebirds brief spell there has only added to this and it helps that the Wales captain is also captain of Swansea, Ashley Williams.
   The team could even boast a Welsh-speaking midfield in Joe Allen, Emyr Huws and Aaron Ramsey ; common in rugby, this is a new phenomenon in footie.
   What heartened me last Friday was the total unity of the chanting.
   To be frank, I couldn't believe it!
   There were constant chants for Ashley Williams and even a proper rendering of the Swansea song 'Ar Hyd Y Nos' ; all happening in the midst of many CCFC banners!
   Of course, it's possible to read too much into this.
   On Monday we could lose to Cyprus and fans could turn on Williams with that galling chant 'You're not even Welsh!'
   All that unity of purpose, which saw players hug after the game, could disappear into disillusionment again.
   However, there was a glimpse of what could be.....no, not just a 'glimpse' but a surge of emotion......a feeling of a small nation full of joy and confidence.
  A moment, yes, but a significant one.


                     ON TO GLORY!

I just love those Welsh songs
'Nah-nah, nah-nah
Nah-nah'
and
'Dur-ra dur-ra dur-ra
Duh-duh'

from the four corners of the globe
well 'o bedwar ban y wlad'

gogs, hwntws, Cardis fel fi
Kairdiffians, Valley Boyz
Wrecsam fans, Westies

I just love those Brazilian rhythms
and the sheepshagger chanting
and, what's that?
'Ar Hyd Y Nos' ?
it's a Jack invasion!

standing on the Canton
like the ol' days of the wooden Grange End,
kids with their mobiles
and those vuvuzelas
and those flappy, snappy
free cardboard things
everyone's clapping
like old-time wooden rattles

one country together
singing 'Men of Harlech' -
well 'Nah-nah,nah-nah'
on to glory....
a 0-0 draw
and an almost victory.



 


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RCT CUTS : CULTURAL VANDALISM

10/6/2014

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Picture
   Last Friday I had great pleasure taking part in an event at Rhydyfelin Library.   It was a Variety Night to raise funds and also awareness of the vital contributions which libraries make to our communities.  
   Last June several local people, including Red Poet Mike Church ( who helped organise the event ) chained themselves to shelves there as a protest against its impending closure by RCT's Labour Council.  
   Rhydyfelin was given a reprieve, while many other libraries, including ones in places like Maerdy - which have little else in terms of facilities - were closed down in the first acts of cultural vandalism.
     This weekend saw the final performance at the Muni Arts Centre in Pontypridd and that town is now left without an arts centre. A loss to present and future generations of performers, who attended workshops there and the many who enjoyed numerous concerts. 
     All this after the smooth-talking MP for that area Owen Smith had the gall to attack the Tories and Lib Dems for their austerity measures. He even suggested at one point that the abandoned project for Ponty precinct could be turned into a 'Tate by the Taff.'  
   Well, now it resembles some of the past entries for the Turner Prize....an Emin bed of rubbled wasteland, absurdly surrounded by security fences.      
   The evening was an enormous success, but I was saddened to hear that the library's future is by no means safe.  Of all the Labour Councils which are carrying out the ConDem cuts with the selfsame relish that they once administered Thatcher's poll tax, RCT seem to be the worst. 
   Hawthorn Swimming Pool has shut and local schools have to travel to Abercynon and further afield for lessons. Swimming clubs either relocate or disappear.  
   Of course, Labour will shift the blame to central government. Cuts in Wrecsam recently tore that party in half with the resignation of 10 councillors who became Independents. 
   On a British level there are many alternatives, yet no mainstream party will take them. If cuts are to be made then abolish the monarchy, don't subsidise nuclear power and slash expenditure on needless defence.  
   On a local level, what is required is a campaign of mass civil disobedience on the part of the majority party in Cymru (i.e. Labour), with Councillors simply refusing to destroy their communities, while the real cause of the 'deficit', the bankers , still get their bonuses.         Unfortunately,this is not going to happen.   Labour have long abandoned those they represent and it's up to people to protest however they can and, when it comes to voting, make sure they elect anti-austerity candidates.
  One thing's for certain, the Labour Party under Miliband are committed to carrying on with these ludicrous and callous policies.
   The latest service to face the axe in RCT is the entire music service. It faces being wiped out completely, as schools will be left to buy in music tuition by private companies like CAVMS. 
  Once again, Labour will be embracing privatisation!
  28 staff will lose their jobs and there will be no more choirs, harp clubs, orchestras, jazz bands, samba bands etc
   Catrin Finch appeared on BBC Breakfast extolling the virtues of classical music. I would call on her to take a stand and join the protest against this devastation.
   Both my older children benefited greatly from this service  : my son went on to study Music at Cambridge and my older daughter to play in groups and orchestras.
  My younger daughter regularly attends the orchestra and in recent years went on tour with them to Germany.
   The Council contributes a mere £474,000 to maintain this.
   Yet, there is a real possibility that they will give themselves a 15% pay rise next year.
   Money  will be found in RCT for a project called 'Super Schools' , which will vastly increase the size of some schools at the expense of others. But music , it seems - in the birthplace of the composers of 'Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau' - is an easy sacrifice.
   Once it's gone, then the music service will never to restored again and our children's lives will suffer as a result.
   I would urge everyone who cares about music and the opportunities for young people to express themselves creatively, not just to sign the online petition, but to join the campaign on every level.



      
    ORCHESTRA   STOPPED   FOREVER



The strings were torn off
to be used as snares.
The wood axed for fires.

Brass made into ornaments
and the drums became
units of storage.

The harps wheeled away
and preserved in museums.
Guitars and keyboards sold on e-bay.

The voices of the choir
and beat of the Samba band
lost in the empty Arts Centre.

Even staves were turned
upright and into columns
of an accountant's ledger.

Mid rehearsal the orchestra
were stopped forever ;
children holding onto air.



In reply to  Paula, I am citing my lifelong experience of the Labour Party in 'action' in the Valleys. They have consistently carried out Westminster policies which are totally contradictory to what they used to stand for. I'm not a member of any party, but I would urge everyone who opposes the Cuts to vote for anti-austerity parties next May and that means the Greens, Plaid Cymru, Socialist Party etc. Anyone voting Labour will be voting for more cuts if they get into power.




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National Poetry Day is every day - A Smile

10/1/2014

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Picture
                              A   SMILE


How long is a smile?
You can't measure it
in hours, days or seasons.


It doesn't translate
into any language
known to mankind.


It's the song of lips
and eyes and teeth
together in unison.


It's the seed
of an expression
planted in the skin.


It's the running
of an underground stream
heard beneath your heart.


A smile is as long
as you can't calculate
distance between one and one.









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