Five Sonnets by Gary Bills

 

And no birds sing..

The wind is still complaining round my hat

in such a corny Gothic Horror way -

this rural scene is a quite the spot for that! -

a rippled lake with reeds that bend and sway.

A monster formed of moving air and dust

is feasting on those reeds, my hat, my flesh,

and I am quite diminished by the gust -

reduced in scale and hope - and such distress

extends through sky and land, and no birds sing -

for much is spoken when no word is said

at thresholds tense with mysteries and dread;

where ragged Winter clings to dancing Spring,

for here I feel the seasons come and go -

strange kinship of the daffodil and snow.

THE BAFFLING GRAMMAR OF THE WINDS

 

What were they like, the leaves of 1610?

What blights befell the oak that stood alone,

And how was it disturbed – were breezes then

Identical in voices to our own?

I hear the baffling grammar of the winds

Expressing change in ways I cannot know:

For whether they are enemies or friends 

Remains obscure, for all the change they sow;

But they are welcome, with their garrulous speech,

Because there is excitement in their phrase -

One season ends, another's just in reach,

As leaves and flowers mark our turning days;

but through such bluster, seasons are aligned -

in spring I catch the winter in their mind.

SURVIVING THE RIDE

 

Ghosts that fogged the windscreen fade at last

but thoughts still cross the mind, like cars aflame -

a trail of smoke and sparks towards the past; 

and on the bypass, juggling for a name,

Memory drops a dozen names for me,

then bows and leaves the scene without applause.

Back home, I’m posting rage where joy should be,

again – again, the clowns are making laws

and common sense is mocked and set aside.

Just hang the books on trees – let autumn come!

Let’s play at hide and seek – it’s best to hide,

now blinds are drawn in case we love the sun…

Myself? - I'll learn evasion - make things up,

and truth dissolves like sugar in a cup.

A MOMENT WITH MARCEL PROUST


Time’s crystals in a madeleine, dissolving
in the moment’s tea – your mind regifts
a world you feared had gone - revolving
other orbits, as a fixed perspective shifts –
because we never set the moment’s flag
while viewing what is lost and what’s to come;
illusion’s all - Time’s sugar brings no lag
before remembrance, and the future’s crumb
is lying on the edge, before one bite,
(while many ghosts appear with laden plates!)
Revolving in a blur of golden light,
we find our point of stillness, small or great;
and where’s the end for afternoons like this?
We sip the tea, we chew, in quiet bliss.

Delvaux


Stillness in apparent movement, lapped
in lunar dreams, where mermaids preen with poise,
where civic Venus, lusting, lies unwrapped
and voyeurs note the curves of naked boys.
The strangest midnight place - desire and peace
walk hand in hand past temples under stars.
If this is Death - I’ll jaywalk through those streets
or watch the dead go by from silent bars,
the puzzled dead in townscapes without flowers,
glassy-eyed and spiritous, one by one -
all thinking of their lives; where nothing jars
Remembrance, nor the bells for ringing hours:
those secret chimes for days which never come,
where no one turns to greet the rising sun.

Gary Bills was born at Wordsley, near Stourbridge. He took his first degree at Durham University, where he studied English, and he has subsequently worked as a journalist. He is fiction editor for Poetry on the Lake.

Gary gained his MA in Creative Writing at BCU, with a distinction.

He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for his post-modernist epic poem, “Bredbeddle's Well”, which was published in Lothlorien in 2022, and he has been nominated for the Best of the Net awards, for his short story, “Country Burr”.

Gary's poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including The Guardian, Magma, HQ and Acumen, and he has had three full collections published, – “The Echo and the Breath” (Peterloo Poets, 2001); “The Ridiculous Nests of the Heart” (bluechrome, 2003); and “Laws for Honey” (erbacce 2020). In 2005, he edited “The Review of Contemporary Poetry”, for bluechrome.

His work has been translated in to German, Romanian and Italian. A US-based indie publisher, The Little French, published his first novel, “A Letter for Alice” in 2019, and a collection of stories, “Bizarre Fables”, in 2021. His second novel, "Sleep not my Wanton", came out in January 2022, and it is due out shortly as a Spanish language version.