Pauline Rowe

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Wood pigeons swoop
from the sycamores,

parade along the fence
in rainbow vestments

like two fat clerics
in conspiracy.

We are in ordinary time.

The priest-birds take control
through yokey beaks,

repeat in unison – Who? Who?
Who?  Who?

Their question stops the sparrows chatter
as they simmer in the vibrant grass

then pop into the air like summer bubbles.

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Pauline Rowe was Poet-in-Residence with Open Eye Gallery (2016 – 2019). Her recent pamphlet The Weight of Snow (Maytree Press, 2021) won the 2021 Saboteur Award for best poetry pamphlet. She has an MA in Creative Arts and a PhD from Liverpool University. She was recipient of a 2021 MaxLiteracy award for a project working with Open Eye Gallery and Wirral Hospitals’ School.