Reed Bed – By Mark Russell

This poem by member Mark Russell was commended in the Society’s 2019 Folio competition, and published in Folio #73

Reed Bed

reed bed in the wetlands
fixed
convulsed
churned like the skin of sea

as light fades
seen by no one

endless twilight
with no one

to face the silence
no one

to hear the rattle or sough

reed bed in the wetlands
rocked by breeze
and the wing of flurried bird

darting out… across… beyond
out of sight

here, at water edge
there’s no horizon
but thought of horizon
carried by the nearness of sea

or by the wing of finch

the horizon of thought
held tight
in a beak

to weave a solitary nest

and in place of horizon
the tops of reeds
like surging water
stirred by the air… the wing, the prayer

a prayer for eyes
to witness desolation

remote from profit or loss
from intention

reed bed in the wetlands
nearly outside time

but teaming with the secrets of bittern… otter
water vole… sedge warbler
leopard moth… rove beetle
spider… fly
and wasp

reed bed in the wetlands
rocked by breeze

and wing of flurried bird