Hi James,
The Jesus image is a really interesting one, but I got a bit lost with "it's
a space between a bleakness that is close to desolation". Doesn't it need to
be between the bleakness and something else?
I like the mood at the end though - there's a Stanley Cook poem whose name I
can't remember in which he realises with a bit of a jolt at the end that he
is part of the scene he has been describing, and it sort of reminded me of
that.
Regards,
Matt

-----Original Message-----
From: The Pennine Poetry Works [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of James Bell
Sent: 20 November 2004 15:03
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: New sub: Sermon On A Sandbank


One from the notebook and part of the estuary sequence again.

SERMON ON A SANDBANK

There is some kind of debate going on
at the turn in a sandbank where the geese gather
some on land, some on the very flat water -

several wings flap, some honk -
it's like a version of Jesus giving a sermon
while standing in a boat on the Sea of Galilee -

though nobody walks on water and all boats
are moored way off nearer the shore -
it's a space between a bleakness

that is close to desolation
except for this band of pilgrims observed
only by you and a curlew who passes on foot



bw
James
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