Most people have some small possessions of little monetary value, but great joy is attached to them, either because they please the senses or because they are associated with a happy memory or a loved person. Using and touching these things enables the owner to enjoy a sense of living in the moment, which is a key aspect of hygge.

Cupboard

I, who’ve inherited nothing, except
this nose more arched than a harp,
these hips made to cradle a life,
find in these old things enough
to still my quivering beak, which
pricks in every direction of a map;
enough to soothe the soup of my belly,
which craves to feed to lips of a babe.

Be still. These delicate, finely-wrought
treasures live in a cupboard that’s cradle-
sized. My eyes sip at them daily,
when making tea, or slipping the coats
from potatoes. Two cruets, as white as
atoms…

Mab Jones arrived at the writing party relatively late, at the age of 29, but has really made the most of it since.

The 39-year-old poet, writer, journalist, event organiser and teacher aspired to be a writer and artist from a young age, and finally started putting her goals into practice just before turning 30. One reason, she said, for not starting sooner was: “I felt very lacking in confidence, and I didn’t know how to get into writing.”

Everything changed for Mab, however, when she discovered Literature Wales’s bursaries for new writers. The Cardiff native decided to put some words together and submit them for consideration, and actually went on to be awarded a grant of £3,000 to keep writing.

“I quit my crappy job,” the writer says now. “I had to get another crappy job afterwards, mind, but I had three months free to write. I wrote a…