Mermaid's Purse

The shopkeeper gets a glance

If they so wish when

I flash my card

And pay for stuff.

Do you keep a picture

Of your loved ones in yours?

I barely empty mine

And it gets hard to close.

Do you think a mermaid means to drop hers?

On the shore.

I guess it makes it hard to swim

A precious find of invisible contents.

Invisible contents are so precious.

Dwynwen is the Patron Saint of Lovers in Wales.

The house I stayed in while in Anglesey was very close to Newborough - an ancient forest, next to a massive sandy beach, reaching out across the Irish Sea to the majestic Snowdonia.

If you walk west along the beach you reach Ynys Llanddwyn, a tidal island.

Dwynwen lived in the 5th century and was the daughter of a king.

Fragments of her story remain. She had a love interest, a man named Maelon. She rejected his advances. Why? who knows really - maybe she didn’t fancy him, maybe she wanted to remain virginal, maybe she was gay, maybe her dad wanted her to marry another…

Some stories say she was raped by him, others say she just wanted to forget his love as she was not able to be with him…. Two opposite scenarios with the similar core issue - that of being unable to make her own choices.

She prayed for assistance and an angel gave her a potion to give to Maelon.

This turned him to a block of ice.

Full of remorse for her actions, she grants 3 wishes; 1- to release Maelon, 2- that God look after all true lovers, & 3- that she remain unmarried.

She then retreated to live a life as a hermit on this island of Ynys Llanddwyn until she died.

Dwynwen's Island

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Shape Shifter

I found a mermaid’s purse on the beach at Ynys Llanddwyn.

When I picked it up it felt powerful. A rush of thoughts came to me like I was absorbing some magic from holding it. The word “secret” flew around me. It’s like these thoughts are secret. The mermaid’s purse’s contents are a secret. Female power is a secret. What we choose to let out of our purse and what we choose to keep for ourselves is the power.

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