Frequencies of God – walking through Advent with RS Thomas by Carys Walsh

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There is always a danger with collection of reflections on poems that in “explaining” them (like jokes) you trample on their power – thankfully Carys Walsh avoids that providing reflections that weave some of the context in which Thomas was writing particular poems with an expansive meditation that draw out the richness of your encounter with Thomas’ words.

R.S. Thomas is not a poet of joy – and the darkness that pervades many (most?) of his poems sits well with the mood of Advent, it is a people that have walked in darkness that will see the great light. It was also the right mood for Advent 2020, with the impacts of COVID stripping away much of our usual festivity.

While reflecting on the poem Llananno Walsh writes that a place of pilgrimage is “both destination and punctuation on a longer journey. A stopping point, a junction, and a meeting place: huddled between ancient and modern… Here is a still point where time and eternity meet in a place forever giving birth to God’s presence.”