Calendar

Calendar

Owen Sheers

‘Skirrid Hill’ takes its origin from the Welsh, ‘Ysgirid Fawr’ which roughly translates as ‘shattered mountain’. ‘Skirrid’ can also mean ‘divorced or separated’ – the theme is the connotation of something broken down or split away — the natural deterioration and separation of people and things.

Therefore the collection deals with death, separation from one’s family, loss of communication, distancing in relationships. It also deals with the literal physical separation that takes place in the mountain itself; the diminished empathy between humans and nature.

All these are haiku, following the 5,7,5 syllable pattern for each line. Haiku always contain a ‘kigo’, a word or phrase which denotes the season, so the poem evokes the natural world. However, Sheers uses human imagery. As usual with this collection the poems link with each other to sustain thematic unity. So, comparing the birds on the wire to notes on a stave evokes ‘The Singing Men’. It naturally links into the over-arching theme of man’s relationship with nature.

As the poem moves from Spring to Winter, Sheers uses increasingly negative imagery, starting with the birds likened to musical notes, but ending in Winter infection.