James Bell
Brittany, France
 
James Bell – comes from Scotland and now lives in France where he contributes photography and non-fiction to an English language journal. His third poetry collection Here At The End Of The World is forthcoming from Lapwing.

Two Poems  -  body and sole  - season of the mask
 
Written 11th April 2020
 
body and sole
 
on the last day of the open air market
I stand in line at the fish stall and wait
to be served - nothing else can be done
 
think aimlessly and look at what is selling
from the ice on the slab - how heads
are cut from bodies in a final division
 
one part for the bucket the other in a wrapper
neatly done for later - I catch the eye
of a sole - the only one laid on ice
 
the stare is as it would have been in life
with vital force gone - dun brown body
still with the sheen of sea it comes from
 
the people in front choose to buy the sole
two gloved hands lift it from its place -
there is the ceremony of being laid on scales
 
the whole fish weighed and priced then step
by step dissected - fins and tail first
then head - begins to look less like itself 
 
an expert nick with the extra sharp knife
before one side of its skin is stripped
and the body fillet inside is now revealed
 
then ripped from the back skin quick
again with the sharp knife and placed on
a wrapping then folded like a final shroud
 
though now an item of shopping - parted from
its other parts - heads and tails though maybe
we should say tail and head instead
 
flick a coin - price to the memory of a sole
long eaten now and digested - way back
on the last day of the open air market
 
 

15th May 2020

season of the mask

the time of masks approaches

as the age of fools departs

a conquest by a kiss unlikely

more people wear them today

one with his nose over the top –

wonder if it is a new pantomime

where the ridiculous is a new normal –

a time to begin the mourning

and take heart from continuation

while others do that one

foot in front of another thing

just for the exercise – prevention

too of dust and pollen as

that season too approaches anew

so must take a deep breath – carry on

James Bell

15/04/2020     France