He strides up the wet field, crows hopping a circle.
It is spring, the blackthorns bright as clouds.
The plague is come back to the village.
At the top gate the trough is bloated with spawn.
He stirs a stick in, stink rising from the ooze.
A thousand lives resettle.
He would bring his children with a jar
to take them home – but when the days grow long
the village will start to die again.
He will save them.
‘Mompesson’ appears in Rob Hindle’s new collection Sapo. You can order the book by clicking on the relevant PayPal button below.
Sapo
(hardback, 96pp)
£14
UK orders (+ £2.50 postage)
Europe orders (+ £5.95 postage)
Rest of World orders (+ £9 postage)
More than 60 previous Featured Poems can be accessed via this index (many of these pages also contain audio recordings and short films).
Longbarrow Press 