Rowland Bagnall

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A Close Watch

On a day
where what I’m
feeling is a
lack of interest
in the lack
of interest shown
by people to
the things they
see, what matter
that a sparrow
lurches back into
the yellow-seeming light
of sun now
breaking into shape
above these solid,
maybe snow-capped hills?

Maybe snow-capped hills
can see more
clearly than – at
first glance – they
appear to, country
spilling out before
them, hazing to
fields, the first
and last place
anyone would think
to look for
signs that things
look out of
joint, each edge
edging into wave-like
view the next.

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ROWLAND BAGNALL is a writer and poet based in Oxford. His second book, Near-Life Experience, was published in 2024 – www.rowlandbagnall.com/