THE ECHO AND THE BREATH
Poems by Gary Bills
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Gary Bills was born in Wordsley, near Stourbridge, and educated at Durham University, where he studied English Language and Medieval Literature. He is married to Heather E. Geddes, an artist, and lives in Ledbury, Herefordshire, where he works as a local journalist.

Since 1989 he has published "getting on for 100 poems" in various magazines including Outposts, Envoi, Acumen, Helicon, Iota and HQ.

He is a regular reviewer for HQ, and three of his minimalist poems were chosen this year for inclusion in The Acorn Book of Contemporary Haiku, an anthology edited by Kevin Bailey, editor of HQ, and Lucien Stryk, the co-editor of the Penguin Book of Zen Poetry.

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A Love Affair in Miniature

1.

I am
a lake,
unrippled.

Her touch -
a leaf
that falls upon
such calm.

2.
I draw green blinds
across the moon,
on river sounds
as delicate as breath...

And she becomes
the hands and lips
of silence.

3.
Snowflakes
light as birds' feet
on the glass,
her four rings
on the table,
and my ticking watch
beside them.

4.
I dream of kites,
I touch their shadows…

And in the morning,
when we kiss,
her taste
is on my lips.

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THE ECHO AND THE BREATH
Price £7.95 per copy post free (£5.35 post free to Associate Members)
Cover painting: by Heather E. Geddes
Publication: SPRING 2001 (66 pages laminated paperback)