Ormond, John

(1923-1990)

   Welsh poet born at Dunvant, near Swansea, he was educated at the University College of Swansea, then became staff writer of the London Picture Post in 1945. He returned to Swansea as sub-editor of the South Wales Evening Post before embarking on a career with the BBC in Wales, to become a renowned producer and director of documentary films, which, over the years, included studies of Welsh painters and writers. His early verses (under the name Ormond Thomas) appeared in the volume Indications (1943) with that of James Kirkup and John Bayliss (see entries). Discouraged at the advice from Vernon Watkins (see entry) not to publish any more until he was thirty, he did not publish any more for almost twenty years. A selection of his work, including eight uncollected poems, was included in Penguin Modern Poets 27 (1978). His other publications: Requiem and Celebration, 1969. Definition of a Waterfall, 1973. Selected Poems, 1987. Cathedral Builders, 1991. Some of his poems: "Ancient Monuments," "At His Father's Grave," "Definition of a Waterfall," "Design for a Quilt," "Design for a Tomb," "My Grandfather and His Apple-Tree."

   Sources: Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1980. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, ed. Poetry Wales Press, 1984. Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1990. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, ed. Poetry Wales Press, 1993. CREW Welsh Writers Online (http://www.swan.ac.uk/english/crew/index.htm). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers. org). The Oxford Book of Death. D.J. Enright, ed. Oxford University Press, 1987. Twentieth Century Anglo-Welsh Poetry. Dannie Abse, ed. Seren Books / Dufour Editions, 1997.