Live Encounters Poetry & Writing February 2025
Your Head on a Plate, poems by Bernadette Gallagher.
Your Head on a Plate
But my people would not listen to me;
Israel would not obey me. Psalm 81:11
The seeds are sown, the harvest is bountiful.
Fires can be seen years hence as the stars
still flicker in the sky, as a father
cradles his dead son and a mother
no longer a mother.
Is there an end to this story?
Today is your birthday
yesterday I cut away briars
rambling through blackcurrant bushes
and raspberry canes
they clung to my jeans, to my jumper —
I carefully prised them away
placed them in little heaps
letting them fall back
into themselves
Elia
Blue eyes staring
mouth open
an angel
with news from beyond
you let me forget
all
but this breath
your gurgle
your soft skin against my aged cloak.
© Bernadette Gallagher
Bernadette Gallagher is the author of The Risen Tree (Revival Press, 2024), her debut poetry collection. Further details on https://bernadettegallagher.blogspot.com/.