From Now On: Ewan Smith

us (them) us

there’s aptness
in the silence
and the absence of laughter

… home … here … hearth … hiraeth …

What is a river? Flowing water? Mud banks? Teeming life? An idea?

Water can be poisoned, mud banks dug away, life consumed. But can they destroy an idea?

… poison … poisson … puissance … pursuit …

… imagine a crack in reality … the occupying soldiers become armed with nets … now membranes grow
between their toes … they breathe in the water … they swim amongst the fish … they seek enemies they no longer recognise …

… enemies … environs … envy … envelop …

“That being controlled cannot be allowed to grow free.”
In the aftermath, power violates. In the aftermath, nature heals. Growth finds its own way back.

… war … water … worth … gwerth …

… calm … calms … clams … claims … reclaims … we claim … proclaim … aflame … a shame … shame … sham … shaman … a man … amen … amens … menace … malignance … malfeasance … reasons … seasons … sources … soil … spoil … despoil … despair … share … shower … power … flower … our … ours … reclaim ours … reclaiming ours … reclaiming what is ours … reclaiming what is ours … reclaiming what is ours …

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Over the years, Ewan Smith has worked as a journalist, househusband, childminder, teaching assistant and primary school teacher. In 2016, he retired to the seaside in North Wales where he and his wife, Anna, are currently living the dream. He writes poetry, short stories and pocket novels for women’s magazines and is keenly learning Welsh. He won the poetry prize for Welsh learners at this year’s National Eisteddfod.

Through the From Now On project, Ewan received mentoring support and critical feedback from Hanan Issa, Co-Founder of Where I’m Coming From.