Reflections on Pipestone Creek Dinosaur Bone bed.

foto©robcullen2025

….

I’ve wondered whether on some high mountain somewhere,

There lies millions of bones and the billions of remains

Of animals and beings not selected by Noah for his Ark.

The endings of lives, of those who were not chosen, not selected.

Desperately climbing to the highest mountains and headlands,

In their hopeless attempt to avoid the following encroaching waters.

How many bone graveyards must there be? Forgotten death yards.

When only so few were chosen two by two, one male, one female.

And so many who hadn’t heard the news of the great flooding.

Imagine the scene at the ramp and Noah’s selection – that word again selection.

And of those being told that two of your kind have been chosen but not you.

Of being told there’s no more room; there’s no more space for you and yours.

Imagine how difficult it was to tell a T-Rex and the dinosaurs they weren’t wanted.

Blue whales, Sperm whales, Dolphins and the Sharks in amusement watched on.

Fleas bit someone’s knees, ants bit into floating wood, Midges did what they do.

But what was it like on that mountain height? – It wouldn’t have been silent for sure.

Standing there with so many others, left and discarded, angry and disconsolate,

Watching the inevitable rise of engulfing waters slowly seeping, waters creeping.

Even the birds that could fly and were left behind would eventually fall,

Flying endlessly with nowhere to go in a world of salt water seas.

Thank God there were fish. Thank God for his wisdom that there were fish.

Oh to be a fish! Oh to be a fish in times like these and to swim in the depths,

Far below the waves and not have to see these times and the murder of children,

Not have to see the genocide of a people, of the murder of so many Gaza children.

Twenty-five thousand murdered children of Gaza where will their bones lie?

Eighty thousand men, women and children murdered before the eyes of the world.

What will be the name of the bone yard – the graveyard of the People of Gaza?

©robcullen20525

Fundraiser for the Children of Gaza. VoicesontheBridge – Saturday 21st June 2025 6.30pm. … @StoryvilleBooks, Mill Street Quarter, Pontypridd. An Evening of Poetry and Music To Support the Children of Gaza!

Des MannayDisabled, Welsh writer of colour will be performing his work.

Des MannayDisabled, Welsh writer of colour. Poetry collection, “Sod ’em – and tomorrow” (Waterloo Press). An Associate Editor ‘Poetry Wales, co-editor ‘ Angry Manifesto’ journal. Prizewinner in 4 competitions, shortlisted in 7. Performed at many venues/festivals, in numerous poetry journals, in 49 anthologies. and Judge in ‘Valiant Scribe competition”.

Voices on the Bridge is organised and presented by Rob Cullen – Reading and performing will be Sabrin Hasbun, Patrick Jones, Abeer Ameer, Mike Jenkins, Rob Cullen, Tracey Rhys, Greg Cullen, Ben Wildsmith , Fiona Cullen, and Leanne Evans.

VoicesontheBridge is an evening of poetry, spoken word and song. This event is stacked with great poets & speakers book early to ensure your place!

Elizabeth Heath of RCT Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be speaking about the upcoming Palestinian youth visit to RCT and they will have a stall with info leaflets.

Menna Elfyn couldn’t be with us but has generously donated 20 copies of – Y Bachgen a’r Wal – The Boy and the Wall – a book creeated by the young people at Lajee Centre near the city of Bethlehem.

Three local artists have donated paintings to be autioned on the night Barabara Castle and Jenna Cullen.

Great news Gerhard Kress has donated £410 he raised from the sale of his art work!

There will also be food and music. Heads up bring cash if you’re eating.

The event could not take place without the support of the wonderful @StoryvilleBooks. Big thanks to Jeff!

Watch out for further posts with more information about the evening.

Tickets are £10 online – £12 on the door. Tickets can be bought online with Storyvillebooks.

We hope you can join us and support the urgent need of the children of Gaza.

This is not a fundraiser for Hamas.

This is an event to provide funds to support the Children of Gaza.

All monies raised will be donated to UNICEF.

This is a formidable group of poets, writers, artists – Don’t miss it – Book Early.

This event is part of The Pontypridd Great Big Community as Super Power Day.

More Bridges less Walls!

VoicesontheBridge. Fundraiser for the Children of Gaza. Saturday 21st June 2025 6.30pm. … An Evening of Poetry and Music. @StoryvilleBooks, Mill Street Quarter, Pontypridd. … Support the Children of Gaza!

Ben Wildsmith – writer, journalist and musician – will be performing as only Ben does!

Ben is a Nation.Cymru columnist, writing about politics and rugby twice a week. His book, Flags & Bones, was published by Cambria Books in 2023 and pulls together his irreverent journalism. He’s a Hay Festival Writer at Work and has published short fiction . Ben is currently working on a memoir about adoption and identity which will be published by Calon in 2026. He’s been a performing musician since he was 15 and his album ‘Damn My sense of Humour will be released in 2025. He lives in Rhondda Fach with his wife, Susie, and a mounting sense of dread.

Voices on the Bridge is organised and presented by Rob Cullen – Reading and performing will be Sabrin Hasbun, Patrick Jones, Abeer Ameer, Mike Jenkins, Rob Cullen, Tracey Rhys, Greg Cullen, Des Mannay, Fiona Cullen, and Leanne Evans.

VoicesontheBridge is an evening of poetry, spoken word and song. This event is stacked with great poets & speakers book early to ensure your place!

Elizabeth Heath of RCT Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be speaking about the upcoming Palestinian youth visit to RCT and they will have a stall with info leaflets.

Menna Elfyn couldn’t be with us but has generously donated 20 copies of – Y Bachgen a’r Wal – The Boy and the Wall – a book creeated by the young people at Lajee Centre near the city of Bethlehem.

Three local artists have donated paintings to be autioned on the night Barabara Castle, Jenna Cullen.

Great news Gerhard Kress has donated £410 he raised from the sale of his art work!

There will also be food and music.

This event is part of The Pontypridd Great Big Community as Super Power Day.

The event could not take place without the support of the wonderful @StoryvilleBooks. Big thanks to Jeff!

Watch out for further posts with more information about the evening.

Tickets are £10 online – £12 on the door. Tickets can be bought online with Storyvillebooks.

We hope you can join us and support the urgent need of the children of Gaza.

This is not a fundraiser for Hamas.

This is an event to provide funds to support the Children of Gaza.

All monies raised will be donated to UNHCR.

This is a formidable group of poets, writers, artists – Don’t miss it – Book Early.

More Bridges less Walls!

Fundraiser for the Children of Gaza. Saturday 21st June 2025 6.30pm. VoicesontheBridge @StoryvilleBooks, Mill Street Quarter, Pontypridd. 6.30pm. Support the Children of Gaza!

Leanne Evans is a proud Welsh Poet who has had a shared love of words since childhood, following in the footsteps of her poetic grandfather. Leanne has a love of animals, lives with her husband, and and 2 cats near Blackwood.

Voices on the Bridge is organised and presented by Rob Cullen – Reading and performing will be Sabrin Hasbun, Patrick Jones, Abeer Ameer, Mike Jenkins, Rob Cullen, Tracey Rhys, Greg Cullen, Des Mannay, Fiona Cullen, and Ben Wildsmith.

VoicesontheBridge is an evening of poetry, spoken word and song. This event is stacked with great poets & speakers book early to ensure your place!

Elizabeth Heath of RCT Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be speaking about the upcoming Palestinian youth visit to RCT and they will have a stall with info leaflets.

Menna Elfyn couldn’t be with us but has generously donated 20 copies of – Y Bachgen a’r Wal – The Boy and the Wall – a book creeated by the young people at Lajee Centre near the city of Bethlehem.

Three local artists have donated paintings to be autioned on the night Barabara Castle, Jenna Cullen.

Great news Gerhard Kress has donated £410 he raised from the sale of his art work!

There will also be food and music.

This event is part of The Pontypridd Great Big Community as Super Power Day.

The event could not take place without the support of the wonderful @StoryvilleBooks. Big thanks to Jeff!

Watch out for further posts with more information about the evening.

Tickets are £10 online – £12 on the door. Tickets can be bought online with Storyvillebooks.

We hope you can join us and support the urgent need of the children of Gaza.

This is not a fundraiser for Hamas.

This is an event to provide funds to support the Children of Gaza.

All monies raised will be donated to UNHCR.

This is a formidable group of poets, writers, artists – Don’t miss it – Book Early.

Fundraiser for the Children of Gaza. Saturday 21st June 2025 6.30pm. VoicesontheBridge @StoryvilleBooks, Mill Street Quarter, Pontypridd. 6.30pm

Voices on the Bridge is organised and presented by Rob Cullen – Reading and performing will be Sabrin Hasbun, Patrick Jones, Abeer Ameer, Mike Jenkins, Rob Cullen, Tracey Rhys, Greg Cullen, Leanne Evans, Des MannayDisabled, Welsh writer of colour, Fiona Cullen, and Ben Wildsmith.

VoicesontheBridge is an evening of poetry, spoken word and song. This event is stacked with great poets & speakers book early to ensure your place!

Elizabeth Heath of RCT Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be speaking about the upcoming Palestinian youth visit to RCT and they will have a stall with info leaflets.

Menna Elfyn couldn’t be with us but has generously donated 20 copies of – Y Bachgen a’r Wal – The Boy and the Wall – a book creeated by the young people at Lajee Centre near the city of Bethlehem.

Three local artists have donated paintings to be autioned on the night Barabara Castle, Jenna Cullen.

Great news Gerhard Kress has donated £410 he raised from the sale of his art work!

There will also be food and music.

This event is part of The Pontypridd Great Big Community as Super Power Day.

The event could not take place without the support of the wonderful @StoryvilleBooks. Big thanks to Jeff!

Watch out for further posts with more information about the evening.

Tickets are £10 online – £12 on the door.

We hope you can join us and support the urgent need of the children of Gaza.

This is not a fundraiser for Hamas.

This is an event to provide funds to support the Children of Gaza.

All monies raised will be donated to U.

This is a formidable group of poets, writers, artists – Don’t miss it – Book Early.

Book Early! VoicesontheBridge Fundraiser for the Children of Gaza 6.30pm Saturday 21st June 2025 @StoryvilleBooks, Mill Street Quarter, Pontypridd.

Organised and presented by Rob Cullen of VoicesontheBridge. Reading and performing with Mike Jenkins will be Sabrin Hasbun, Abeer Ameer, Patrick Jones, Rob Cullen, Leanne Evans, Des Mannay, Tracey Rhys, Fiona Cullen, Ben Wildsmith and Greg Cullen.

VoicesontheBridge is an evening of poetry, spoken word and song. This event is stacked with great poets & speakers book early to ensure your place!

Elizabeth Heath of RCT Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be speaking about the upcoming Palestinian youth visit to RCT and they will have a stall with info leaflets.

Menna Elfyn couldn’t be with us but has generously donated 20 copies of – Y Bachgen a’r Wal – The Boy and the Wall made by the young people at Lajee Centre near the city of Bethlehem.

Three local artists have donated paintings to be autioned on the night Barabara Castle, Jenna Cullen and Gerhard Kress and the sale will be donated to the fundraiser.

There will also be food and music.

This event is part of The Pontypridd Great Big Community as Super Power Day.

The event could not take place without the support of the wonderful @StoryvilleBooks. Big thanks to Jeff!

Watch out for further posts with more information about the evening.

We hope you can join us and support the urgent need of the children of Gaza.

Tickets are £10.

VoicesontheBridge Fundraiser for the Children of Gaza 6.30pm Saturday 21st June 2025 @StoryvilleBooks, Mill Street Quarter, Pontypridd.

VoicesontheBridge is a great fan of Abeer’s work and its great that she will be reading at our event again!

Abeer Ameer is a poet of Iraqi heritage who lives in Cardiff. Her poems have appeared widely in journals including The Rialto, Magma, The Poetry Review, and Poetry Wales. Her debut poetry collection, Inhale/Exile, was shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year 2022. She is currently working on her second poetry collection and regularly shares readings of poems on her YouTube channel.

This fundraiser to support the Children of Gaza is organised and presented by Rob Cullen of Pontypridd’s VoicesontheBridge. Performing wirth Abeer Ameer will be Mike Jenkins, Sabrin Hasbun, Patrick Jones, Rob Cullen, Leanne Evans, Des Mannay, Tracey Rhys, Fiona Cullen, Ben Wildsmith and Greg Cullen.

VoicesontheBridge is an evening of poetry, spoken word and song. This event is stacked with great poets & speakers book early to ensure your place!

Elizabeth Heath of RCT Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be speaking about the upcoming Palestinian youth visit to RCT and they will have a stall with info leaflets.

Menna Elfyn couldn’t be with us but has generously donated 20 copies of – Y Bachgen a’r Wal – The Boy and the Wall made by the young people at Lajee Centre near the city of Bethlehem.

Three local artists have donated paintings to be autioned on the night Barabara Castle, Jenna Cullen and Gerhard Kress and the sale will be donated to the fundraiser.

There will also be food and music.

This event is part of The Pontypridd Great Big Community as Super Power Day.

The event could not take place without the support of the wonderful @StoryvilleBooks. Big thanks to Jeff!

Watch out for further posts with more information about the evening.

We hope you can join us and support the urgent need of the children of Gaza.

Tickets are £10.

A fundraiser for the Children of Gaza

A fundraiser for the Children of Gaza.

Voices on the Bridge at Storyville Books on Saturday 21st June 2025

A fundraiser for the Children of Gaza

Starts 6.30pm

With Sabrin Hasbun, Patrick Jones, Abeer Ameer, Mike Jenkins, Leanne Evans, Fiona Cullen, Des Mannay, Tracey Rhys, Ben Wildsmith plus one other waiting to be confirmed. An evening of poetry, spoken word and song.

Menna Elfyn couldn’t be with us but has generously donated 20 copies of – Y Bachgen a’r Wal – The Boy and the Wall made by the young people at Lajee Centre near the city of Bethlehem.

There will also be food and music.

This event is part of The Pontypridd Great Big Community as Super Power Day.

Watch out for further posts with more information about the evening. We hope you can join us.

Moneys raised will go to the UNICEF GAZA APPEAL
FOR CHILDREN IN CRISIS.

Tickets are £10.

VoicesontheBridge @ClwbyBont Pontypridd Thursday 19th October Starts 7.45pm (doors open 7.30pm)

Come along to VoicesontheBridge and enjoy an evening of Poetry, Spoken Word & Song!

Pete Ak’ spoken word performer and vocalist/songwriter with the S.Wales based band TaffyWasAThief. His spoken word pieces are strong on narrative, rhyme and humour, enjoying word play and ingenious metaphors. His pieces reflect his admittedly confusing childhood, growing up in a Barnardo’s children’s home as the only black child in a small Welsh valley town in the 1960’s.

Pete’s performances strongly feature emotional and energetic renditions which add colour and verve to his pieces. He has appeared at Llandeilo and Hay (fringe) ‘ Where the Light Comes In’ literary festivals and also appeared on BBC Wales’ feature programme Jonathan Davies’ Six Nations Quiz performing his poem ‘A Nation Hold its Breathe Again’ a signature piece which integrates patriotism with rugby lore and passion. He has yet to publish independently but has had numerous pieces featured in various publications both online and in print.

Reading and performing with Pete will be – Rachel Carney, Carole Burns, Sion Tomos Owen, Ben Wildsmith, Nick McGaughey, Johnny Giles & Rob Cullen.

Voices on the Bridge is hosted by Clwb Y Bont and is a free event!

Voices on the Bridge is organised by Rob Cullen.

Your all welcome to share this post helps enormously to get the word out there!

@LiteratureWales

VoicesontheBridge – 7th July 2022 6.00pm @StoryvilleBooks Pontypridd


Poetry & Music Initiative.

Voices on the Bridge Thursday 7th July at 6.00pm @Storyville Books Pontypridd- Lineup confirmed…Stephanie McNicholas, Des Mannay, Stephen Payne,Ben Wildsmith, Nicholas Mcgaughey, Susie Wild and yours truly Rob Cullen presenting and reading. Let me know if you’d like to read in the openmic.

Sadly due to work committments Sion Tomos Owen will not be readingas originally advertised.


Bio’s VoiceontheBridge Thursday 7th July 2022

Stephanie McNicholas trained as a journalist in Cardiff in the 1980s and went on to write for national and regional newspapers and magazines. Steph published her second book – WHEN PONTY ROCKED! – in 2021. It tells the stories of the many musicians from her home town in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.


Nicholas McGaughey lives in Pontypridd. He has new work in Bad Lilies/Stand/Lucent Dreaming/The Friday Poem and Spelt Magazine.


Stephen Payne was born in Merthyr Tydfil and lives in Penarth, South Glamorgan. His first full collection, Pattern Beyond Chance, was published in 2015 by HappenStance Press and shortlisted for Wales Book of the Year. The Windmill Proof (September 2021) and The Wax Argument and other Thought Experiments (February 2022) were published by the same press.


Susie Wild is author of the poetry collections Windfalls and Better Houses, the short story collection The Art of Contraception listed for the Edge Hill Prize, and the novella Arrivals. Her work has recently featured in Carol Ann Duffy’s pandemic project WRITE Where We Are NOW, The Atlanta Review, Ink, Sweat & Tears and Poetry Wales. She has placed in competitions including the Welshpool Poetry Festival Competition, the Prole Laureate Prize and the Mslexia Women’s Poetry Competition and performed at festivals including The Laugharne Weekend, Green Man and Glastonbury.


Ben Wildsmith was born in Birmingham at an early age and began crawling westwards immediately. He is a songwriter, journalist, support worker and anarcho-syndicalist carbuncle on the body politic. He is a Literature Wales bursary recipient and Hay Festival Writer at Work. You can read him each Sunday in Nation Cymru.


Des Mannay is a Disabled, Welsh writer of colour. Poetry collection, “Sod ’em – and tomorrow” (Waterloo Press). Co-editor ‘The Angry Manifesto’ journal. Prizewinner in 4 competitions, shortlisted in 7. Performed at many venues/festivals, in numerous poetry journals, 36 anthologies. Judge in ‘Valiant Scribe’ competition.


Rob Cullen has organised VOB since 2017. He is a gardener, environmentalist, poet, writer, artist…though not in that order at any particular time….. Throughout lockdown he was frequently published in Resistance Poetry, & The Lark, US – plus The Atlanta Poetry Review; also in the mix Culture Matters anthologies Ymlaen/Onward & Gwrthryfel/Uprising & A Fish Rots from the Head as well as “The Learned Pig” Arts Journal, Cambridge, UK. Rob’s work regularly appears in the Red Poets annuals. He’s completed two novels and trying to get these published.

Hope to see you there!