The author gave himself a challenge: Write about a house that had been empty for 10 years
The Thread's Must-See
The Dylan Thomas CenterSwansea, Wales
"When he went to America, he was just eaten alive. Yes, he was eaten alive by America."
The voice of Caitlin Thomas, Dylan Thomas' long-suffering wife, sounds assured and reflective on a recording you can listen to at the wonderful Dylan Thomas Center in Swansea, Wales.
I sat in a green leather armchair and listened to her reminisce about the instant attraction between them when they met in 1937; the financial straits they were often in; and the work he lost to his alcoholism.
"The poems and the booze," she says. "He used the booze to wipe out the poems when he wasn't...didn't want to be thinking of them."
Thomas grew up in Swansea, a port city in south Wales, where he remains a favorite son. A statue of him sits in a waterfront square and the Dylan Thomas Theater nearby honors his work.
You can also create your own Dylan Thomas literary walk, visiting the street — Cwmdonkin Drive — he was born on; the bars he lingered in; and the spectacular Gower peninsula coastline he drew inspiration from.
And although Dylan Thomas died at age 39 in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, his body was brought back to the Welsh town he'd always returned to. You can find his grave at St. Martin's cemetery in Laugharne. An unadorned wooden cross marks the burial site.
-K.M.
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