Bangor on Dee Churchyard

Between the river
And the remains
I watch as my wife and son

Do the grave chores,
Remove the recidivist,
weeds pressing their suit
Around the marble,
On the headstone
Of my much loved mother.

At first I weave about
As if in a minefield
Not knowing where to put my feet
But then I am aware of a crop
Of ancestors in their great, stone cots
attuned forever to the sacred loam.
Before arriving beside
that slug of river
they call The Dee.
The sandstone church sucks
To her bosom what light there is
While on the tower,
a dismal dark clock face stands guard
In case reality returns.
and I, I watch the circus act, salmon
rise from the water and the damselfly
dance in and out of the damson leaves,
torturing me with their little ways.

https://newcritique.co.uk/2020/07/10/poetry-bernard-pearson/

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pipe smoking Bernard

Bernard Pearson

poet & author

Bernard lives in Oswestry, UK. He is published in around one hundred journals and magazines worldwide. He is also a spoken-word performer, finalist in both the John Tripp Spoken Word Competition and The All Wales Comic Verse Competition. Plus a biographer and prize-winning short story writer. His work has appeared in many publications. In 2017 a selection of his poetry ‘In Free Fall’ was published by Leaf by Leaf  Press. In 2019 he won second prize in The Aurora Prize (an international competition in Poetry) for his poem ‘Manor Farm’ and his first novel ‘Where the Willows End‘ was published by Leaf by Leaf Press. His second novel is due out in 2022.

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