Things get turned around down becomes up
and up becomes down but the birds still fly into
glass and knock themselves out believing
too strongly in an unbounded sky and we sit there
on the grass of the village green a picnic basket
perched precariously between today and tomorrow
it’s a feast or so we think we brought cloth
and candles and a bottle of pale wine not expecting
to share it with anyone but ourselves refilling
our bottles from the river that flows to the ocean
and then drifting into sleep where we dream
a joint dream each aware of the other a kind
of telepathy where characters migrate across
the empty space between emotion and sensation
both of us knowing that when we awake the feast
will be gone and the blankets will be gone
and the dead birds will have been resurrected
having once again begun their long migration.
is a British/American poet. Born in South Yorkshire, he now lives with his partner in Lambertville, New Jersey. His work has appeared in a variety of journals, including The Night Heron Barks, Louisiana Literature, Iron Horse Literary Review, Clackamas Literary Review, and Book of Matches. His first album, Meeting Points, was released in 2021.
