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the poet
Hailing from Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, USA, A R Williams has had his poetry published in various anthologies and magazines – among them, Anti-Heroin Chic, Black Bough Poetry, Fevers of the Mind, Ink, Sweat & Tears, ONE ART and tiny wren lit. He's editor-in-chief of East Ridge Review, and his debut chapbook, A Funeral in the Wild, came out in 2024. A R enjoys nature walks with family, the savour of good-quality coffee, and wearing black t-shirts.
the poems
Virginia Bluebells
growing wild in a wooded
clearing where I go to dream,
graceful, bowing clusters
of sky-colored goblets
dotting the ground haphazardly
near a prattling creek,
now bundled in my hand, for you,
delicately wrapped
in unadorned brown paper,
to celebrate faint double lines—
the promise of a new bloom.
Alone in a Cemetery:
A Golden Shovel
' … if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.'
~ James Wright, A Blessing ~
As I wandered the grounds, I pondered what it would be like if
I lay down, closed my eyes, and imagined that I
had merged with the earth, like rain into dry ground, and stepped
beyond myself into an existence where, out
in the wooded part of this cemetery, I became one of
the venerable oaks, one planted long before my
grandfather was born, long before his body
was ravaged by illness, long before I
learned of his condition, and promised to visit. If only he would
have stayed till snow's break.
So now, I ease into
this dream, with roots extending, yearning, until we finally blossom.
By Your Bedside
You lay in the hospital bed
with breath heavy as iron,
a face frozen like a retired
pocket watch, and limbs
as numb as the prayers
uttered at your side.
Publishing credits
Virginia Bluebells / Alone in a Cemetery: A Golden Shovel:
exclusive first publication by iamb
By Your Bedside: Red Eft Review