Shearsman 55: Frances Presley – 'Belated Birds of Prey'

Shearsman 55

Frances Presley

Belated Birds of Prey

for Colin Simms

Garrigill
1 Nov 01

Dear
that day of the Helm wind you will remember
past Rotherhope Fell carrying you
and the belated birds of prey

belated belated belated
birds of prey

a cluster finds the forest

that fell
those birds of prey

and you with no phone at all

Stonenest street
1 Jan 02

Dear
I was dreaming of (escape)
dreaming of that high rising bank
your birds of prey
vague in its outlines
a different quality of darkness
a line of fells
can't see above
the underlines in your letter

can't see above
the line of address
and you are illegible

? Red Start

can't see the words
the woods

pair
why
here

stonechats

Garrigill
23rd May

broken bones in
r.h. & wrist
in a fall on Fiends' Fell

Eden Vale
25th May

urgent letters
clarity of the left hand

phone numbers
given

this line of clouds
across the fells

fleece snagged –                                                             on wire
contours –                                                             that children draw
to emphasise –                                                       a separation

Black burn

binocular
coincides
the bird
and the shadow of the bird

these adjustments
I can make
though still struggling to
distinguish
the male and the female
which is quite different
again
love

harrier (female)
in quad lights
banks

buzzard (female brown)
outmoving the lens

hands and feet
balancing the contours

words underlined
downstream
stressed by spars

Notes:
Garrigill is the home of poet and naturalist Colin Simms, whose works include
In Afghanistan: Poems 1986-1994, published by Writers Forum, London, 2001.

Belated Birds of Prey forms part of a longer sequence, Paravane: 9/11-11/9. Two small graphic elements have had to be left out of the section Stonenest Street because of the difficulty of fusing graphic and type elements on a webpage. The PDF version of this issue contains these elements, as does the hard copy version.

Frances Presley lives in London and is the author of
Somerset Letters (Oasis Books, London, 2002).