by John Saunders
Neruda and the Bishop’s Heart
Life is only a borrowing of bones
he said, his heart coming to town
where he was treated like a heretic,
when they could not tell the difference.
They were dead even before the ship sank,
birds flying high over halted bodies,
revealing truth to those who watched.
The body that gives pleasure is the same one
that gives pain, the difference – perception .
The River Took Her
She came of the earth,
was of earth.
Breathed the air,
was of air.
Drank the water,
was of water.
She was of earth, air, water.
She ate the earth,
left the air.
Returned to the water.
I and the Village
Did you mean to forecast the future
where an upside-down world would dance
to the dogma of conflict and nationhood?
They look at each other, demon eyes
locked like sheep in trenches
close enough to hear breathing, smell blood
or perhaps it’s the frenzied
play of colour and shape
that spurns the natural order of things.
I and the Village 1911 – Marc Chagall
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John Saunders’ first collection ‘After the Accident’ was published in 2010 by Lapwing Press, Belfast. His poems have appeared in Revival, The Moth Magazine, Crannog, Prairie Schooner Literary Journal (Nebraska), Sharp Review, The Stony Thursday Book, Boyne Berries, Riposte, and on line, The Smoking Poet, Minus Nine Squared, The First Cut, The Weary Blues, Burning Bush 2, Weekenders, The Galway Review, Poetry Bus and poetry 24.
John is one of three featured poets in Measuring, Dedalus New Writers published by Dedalus Press in May 2012.
His second full collection is due to be published in Spring 2013 by New Binary Press.
Art by Sheila Lanham
The Merida Review 